WINGSCAPES

Dark Eyes and Pink Sides

Another of the wonderful images Team Wingscapes has received from Connie in Loveland, Colorado is this one of a Dark-eyed junco, pink-sided form.

Pink-sided Dark-eyed Juncos are generally found in the interior west and range as far east as the Great Plains during winter. While they can be confused for the somewhat darker headed Oregon form near the western edge of their range, the Pink-sided form can be distinguished by their somewhat lighter “hood” and darker lores (the area on a bird’s head just in front of the eyes but behind the beak).

The Juncos Have Landed

As Dark-eyed Juncos are beginning to be seen in the Pacific Northwest, as they in many other parts of the country, I took the BirdCam down from the Mounting Arm on which it was positioned and placed it directly on the ground to capture some images of these ground feeding birds.

Incidentally, if you, like me, have wondered at the odd name of these charming little birds, it comes from their Latin scientific name, Junco hyemalis - juncus for “a rush or reed,” and hyemalis, for “winter.” A winter bird that frequents reedy areas; well, they got it half right.

Possible Junco and Sparrow Hybrid?

One of the benefits of having a Wingscapes BirdCam is that every so often it records a bird that is a bit of a mystery. Not just a bird that isn’t readily identifiable but that is not quite like anything found in the field guides either.

Take, for example, this Dark-eyed Junco image I downloaded from the BirdCam in my backyard in Scappoose, Oregon this past February. I like the image so I cropped it and filed it with my other junco images. However because I include it in a slideshow that is run at the Wingscapes display at the many events which the Wingscapes team attends, quite a number of people have seen it. Of those who have, the number one question has been “What is that bird?”

This has caused me to take a closer look at it. Indeed, it doesn’t quite match any single variation of Dark-eyed Junco. It lacks the white outermost tail feathers. The dark hood of the most common junco where the image was recorded, the “Oregon” form, is divided by a brown streak. The face bears some faint brown patterning reminiscent of a Song Sparrow. And most of all, it is far, far too brown (the same brown as the local Song Sparrows).

More than one visitor to the Wingscapes booth at birding events has asked if juncos hybridize with Song Sparrows. A quick check of the literature shows that such things have been recorded. Then again, it might just be a lesser recognized plumage and state of development of an average Dark-eyed Junco. Comments would be most welcomed.

Junco Day in Scappoose, Oregon

...from our series "Catching up the Items to Blog Backlog"...

In February, the Born Again Bird Watcher posted some great pictures he captured of Dark-eyed Juncos and much, much more.

John Writes:

It was a Junco-heavy day in Scappoose this second Saturday in February. The weather has suddenly turned from unexpectedly frigid with snow and ice to mild with sporadic rain (the normal weather for the area in February). The heavy concentrations of birds clustering around the feeders dispersed almost immediately leaving the usual visitors to pretty much have the run of things. The usual residents being, of course, primarily the Oregon subspecies of Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis oregonus).

Of the seventy-two images retreived from my Wingscapes BirdCam this evening, sixty-three were of this very type of Junco. Of course, a few other species put in appearences as well. Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) was also recorded by the BirdCam.


Of course, it simply wouldn't be a winter day here at the edge of the forest in northwest Oregon without Townsend's Warbler (Dendroica townsendi) also being noted. Without these little warblers, the Varied Thrushes (Ixoreus naevius), and the Western Scrub and Steller's Jays (Aphelocoma californica and Cyanocitta stelleri) winter here would be almost entirely populated by earth-tone birds.

Aside from the splendid images of wildlife that can be captured with the Wingscapes BirdCam, impromptu self-portraits can also be made when making adjustments while the camera is active. Case in point: the rather odd bird shown here (must be an oldie; the red plumage is looking a bit grey).