Feature Article November 4, 2004
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JuncosFall, and as you walk outside you may hear a simple little tit, tit, tit and suddenly see a small, dark bird fly up from the ground, and as it flies away you get a glimpse of white. Then the first is usually followed by several others. The juncos are on their way south! In the east our junco is the Slate-coloured form of the Dark-eyed Junco - and an adult male will show off its dark gray head, breast and upper parts, white belly, and white outer tail feathers. Females and immatures may be somewhat browner and may have buffy flanks.
During the summer the juncos have been breeding in mixed or coniferous forests where they have nested on the ground, probably sheltered under a small tree, in a brush heap, or under a tuft of leaves or ferns, or the nest could be built at the base of a moss-covered bank. And yet, sometimes they build in very unusual places - one has been reported on a ledge under a house gable, another in a can laying on its side, and another in a bird feeder on top of an eight-foot pipe. The nest would have been built by the female, often with the male bringing offerings of nesting material.
Three to five eggs would be incubated by the female, and after hatching the young are cared for by both parents until they leave the nest, and for three to four weeks thereafter. Juncos like to feed on the ground where they search for seeds, which may make up more than half their diet, but they also eat caterpillars, ants, beetles and other insects, and spiders.
When wintry blasts start to blow, the whole family starts to move south. There will be small flocks migrating over several weeks, and while there may be a few sturdy birds hanging around feeders over the winter season, they usually move south of their breeding range into the United States. Feeding in flocks of ten to fifteen, they tend to be scrappy with each other and with other birds. There is a social hierarchy or pecking order - with males dominant over females, and older birds dominant over young ones. If you have juncos at your feeder this winter, the same ones may return next year, as they appear to like to winter in the same area year after year. When spring returns you will see the males chasing the females as part of their courtship behaviour, and at the same time the males begin to sing their simple musical trill. Then it is north to the breeding ground!
Rarely you may find a bird that doesnt look quite the same - perhaps it is one of the other forms of the Dark-eyed Junco that has wandered east from their more westerly breeding grounds. In the past I have had an Oregon Junco with its brown back and wings at my feeder. Other westerners are the Gray-headed Junco from the Rocky Mountains, the Pink-sided Junco, which breeds from Alberta to Idaho, and the White-winged Junco, a Montana to Nebraska breeder, though these would be very rare. The Yellow-eyed Junco is a separate species which breeds in southeast Arizona and would be extremely unlikely.
Observations: I have see many Kinglets, several Palm Warblers, and some Yellow-rumped Warblers during October, and had a close look at a Brown Creeper. What have you seen? Call Jean at 268-2518 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
