Dark-eyed Junco

Junco hyemalisOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Sparrows (Emberizidae)

Dark-eyed Junco 'Slate-colored' Male - The male slate-colored Dark-eyed Junco is slate-gray overall with darker head and black eye mask.

Dark-eyed Junco 'Gray-headed' Male - The male gray-headed Dark-eyed Junco has a gray head, rump, breast, sides, and rust-brown back.

Dark-eyed Junco - The adult male Dark-eyed Junco has a black hood, chestnut-brown back, white underparts and buff-brown flanks.

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Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco: Medium sparrow with considerable geographic color variation, although all exhibit a pink bill, dark eyes, white belly, dark-centered tail with white outer feathers. Short flight with white outer tail feathers flashing, alternates several rapid wing beats with wings pulled to sides.

● Song: "dit", "tsick", "tchet"

● Foraging & Feeding: Dark-eyed Junco: Diet includes seeds, berries, insects, and fruits. Forages by gleaning from vegetation and scratching on the ground; may also hawk flying insects. In spring and fall joins mixed-species foraging flocks.

● Breeding & nesting: Dark-eyed Junco: Three to six white to blue eggs marked with brown and gray, are laid in a deep, compact nest made of rootlets, shreds of bark, twigs, and mosses, lined with grass and hair, and usually built on or near the ground, protected by a rock ledge, mud bank, tufts of weeds, or a fallen log. Occasionally builds nest in a shrub or low tree less than 20 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 11 to 13 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Dark-eyed Junco: Yellow-eyed Junco has yellow eyes, black lores, rufous back, and paler gray head and nape. Black-chinned Sparrow has streaked back, brown wings, and lacks white tail edges.

Flight Pattern

Short flights with white outer tail feathers flashing conspicuously., Alternates several rapid wing beats with wings drawn to sides.

● Range & Habitat: Dark-eyed Junco: Breeds from Alaska east across Canada to Newfoundland, and south to the mountains in Mexico and Georgia. Spends winters south to the Gulf coast and northern Mexico; vagrant in Iceland, British Isles, continental Europe, and east Siberia. Preferred habitats include openings and edges of coniferous and mixed woods. In the winter, frequents fields, roadsides, parks, and suburban gardens.

^BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester

^PopulationCommon to fairly common

^MigrationNorthern birds migrate

^Weight0.7 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America

Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Junco

Flight Pattern