Dark-eyed junco

Appearance

Adults generally have gray heads, necks, and breasts, gray or brown backs and wings, and a white belly, but show a confusing amount of variation in plumage details. The white outer tail feathers flash distinctively in flight and while hopping on the ground. The bill is usually pale pinkish.

Males tend to have darker, more conspicuous markings than the females. The dark-eyed junco is 13 to 17.5 cm long and has a wingspan of 18 to 25 cm. Body mass can vary from 18 to 30 g. Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 6.6 to 9.3 cm, the tail is 6.1 to 7.3 cm, the bill is 0.9 to 1.3 cm and the tarsus is 1.9 to 2.3 cm. Juveniles often have pale streaks and may even be mistaken for vesper sparrows until they acquire adult plumage at 2 to 3 months, but junco fledglings' heads are generally quite uniform in color already, and initially their bills still have conspicuous yellowish edges to the gape, remains of the fleshy wattles that guide the parents when they feed the nestlings.

The song is a trill similar to the chipping sparrow's, except that the red-backed dark-eyed junco's song is more complex, similar to that of the yellow-eyed junco. The call also resembles that of the black-throated blue warbler's, which is a member of the New World warbler family.Calls include "tick" sounds and very high-pitched tinkling "chip"s.It is known among bird language practitioners as an excellent bird to study for learning "bird language."

Naming

The several subspecies make up two large or polytypic groups and three to four small or monotypic ones. The six basic groups were formerly considered separate species, but they interbreed extensively in areas of contact. Birders trying to identify subspecies are advised to consult detailed identification references.

Habitat

Their breeding habitat is coniferous or mixed forest areas throughout North America. In otherwise optimal conditions they also utilize other habitat, but at the southern margin of its range it can only persist in its favorite habitat. Northern birds migrate further south, arriving in their winter quarters between mid-September and November and leaving to breed from mid-March onwards, with almost all of them gone by the end of April or so. Many populations are permanent residents or altitudinal migrants, while in cold years they may choose to stay in their winter range and breed there. For example, in the Sierra Nevada of eastern California, "J. hymealis" populations will migrate to winter ranges 5,000–7,000 feet lower than their summer range. In winter, juncos are familiar in and around towns, and in many places are the most common birds at feeders. The slate-colored dark-eyed junco is a rare vagrant to western Europe and may successfully winter in Great Britain, usually in domestic gardens.

These birds forage on the ground. In winter, they often forage in flocks that may contain several subspecies. They mainly eat insects and seeds. A flock has been known to be called a blizzard.

They usually nest in a cup-shaped depression on the ground, well hidden by vegetation or other material, although nests are sometimes found in the lower branches of a shrub or tree. The nests have an outer diameter of about 10 cm and are lined with fine grasses and hair. Normally two clutches of four eggs are laid during the breeding season. The slightly glossy eggs are grayish or pale bluish-white and heavily spotted with various shades of brown, purple or gray. The spotting is concentrated at the large end of the egg. The eggs are incubated by the female for 12 to 13 days. The young leave the nest between 11 and 14 days after hatching.