The Dark-eyed Junco
WHAT WINTER WETLANDS PARK VISITOR IS ALSO CALLED A “SNOWBIRD”?
Dark-eyed juncos are listed as “winter, uncommon” birds on the Red Rock Audubon list of birds of the Las Vegas Wash. In fact, southern Nevada sees relatively few of these charming “New World sparrows,” even though they are one of the most common birds in North America, with a total population estimated at around 630 million individuals!
Dark-eyed juncos are found across North America from Alaska to Mexico, and from California to New York. But, like most places in the continental United States, we see dark-eyed juncos at Clark County Wetlands Park only in winter. Like many birds, they fly south for the winter, but for them “south” can mean the entire conterminous United States. “South” is a relative term and the juncos are migrating from their far northern summer breeding grounds in the boreal forests of Canada and Alaska.
The juncos arrive at their wintering grounds from mid-September to November, and their arrival often coincides with the arrival of cold and snow. This connection to the winter gives these “snowbirds” their nickname, which has been in common use for at least 200 years! Dark-eyed juncos head north to breed between mid-March and April, just as many of their winter homes begin to green up with spring.
These juncos winter in a variety of semi-open habitats, including woodland edges; thickets; and brushy areas (like Clark County Wetlands Park); as well as suburban yards (like mine). My first junco of 2024 peeked in my back sliding door two days before Thanksgiving with a pert “I’m baack” expression on his face. In fact, that may be true – winter flocks of Dark-eyed juncos are loyal to their wintering grounds, returning year after year to the same locations. The flocks have a stable membership from year to year, and a well-ordered hierarchy among flock members. This hierarchy can often be observed at bird feeders, with the more dominant birds in the flock moving the others around by lunging at them or flicking their tails at them.
Watching juncos takes practice! Six distinct subspecies (slate-colored, Oregon, pink-sided, red-backed, gray-headed, and white-winged) of dark-eyed junco have been recognized. Their colors are different enough from each other to fool observers into thinking they are seeing birds of entirely different species (The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America has excellent illustrations of them). Take the time to check them out if you are an aspiring “junco watcher.”
Author David Allen Sibley, in his book What it’s like to be a Bird, notes that “In the case of the dark-eyed junco, all the differences we see have evolved since the last Ice Age, about fifteen thousand years ago.” Though birds from different populations look different from each other, Sibley says that they “sound the same, act the same, and (most important) seem to recognize each other as the same species and interbreed wherever their ranges meet.”
All the subspecies of the dark-eyed junco share pale (pinkish) bills, dark eyes, whitish bellies, and dark tails with conspicuous white outer feathers that flash when they fly. Sibley’s range maps show the slate-colored, Oregon, grey-headed, and pink-sided subspecies can occur in southern Nevada. Our photo model, perched near the ground on a rock, is a male slate-colored dark-eyed Junco. Females of the slate-colored subspecies are paler overall and more brownish colored above.
Since juncos spend over half their time on the ground, foraging for the seeds that make up about 75% of their diet, keep an eye on patches of ground adjacent to brush or shrubby cover as you walk the winter Park trails. You may just spy a flock of dark-eyed juncos hopping and flitting about as they feed, or possibly hear their “ticking” alarm call as they fly up to hide from you in the undergrowth.
-By Chris Leavitt, President; photo: Roy E. Ingram
Please enjoy these YouTube videos!
Dark Eyed Junco – Bird Docs Zak and Monika 1:06
The Dark-Eyed Junco Shuffle And Other Adorable Junco Behavior GW King – Nature Through My Lens 1:49
Science Today: The Dark-Eyed Junco/California Academy of Sciences 3:41
Dark-eyed Junco Dominique Lalonde Films Nature 4:00