Dark-Eyed Junco
Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis
Sound (119 KB)
Size:
6.25 inches (16 cm)
Abundance:
• Common
Quick Identification:
• Pale bill and dark eye
• Whitish belly
• Dark tail with white outer feathers
• Dark gray head, back and chest in eastern birds
Identification Tips:
• Pink, conical bill
• White outer tail feathers
• Considerable geographic variation in plumage
• Various forms were formerly considered separate species
"Slate-colored junco":
• Dark gray head, breast and upperparts
• White belly
• Female and immatures somewhat browner than adult male and may have buffy flanks
• Breeds in eastern United States and Canada
"White-winged junco":
• Medium gray head, breast and upperparts
• White belly
• White wing bars
• Female and immatures somewhat browner than male
• Breeds from Montana to Nebraska
"Oregon junco":
• Dark gray head and breast
• Brown back and wings
• Buffy flanks
• White belly
• Female and immatures somewhat duller than male
• Breeds from Alaska to California
"Pink-sided junco":
• Medium gray head and breast
• Dark lores
• Brown back and wings
• Pinkinsh flanks
• White belly
• Female and immatures somewhat browner than male
• Breeds from Alberta to Idaho
"Gray-headed junco":
• Medium gray plumage, palest on belly
• Rusty back
• Dark lores
• Sometimes has dark upper mandible
• Breeds in Rocky Mountains
Similar species:
• The Dark-eyed Junco is similar to the local (southeast Arizona) Yellow-eyed Junco but
has dark eyes. Black-chinned sparrow has streaked back, brown wings and lacks white in the
tail.
HABITAT:
Conifers, edges of mixed forests, thickets, weedy fields, brushy areas, feeders,
roadsides, parks, gardens. Very common in winter, especially at bird feeders. In 1973 the
AOU lumped the Slate-colored, Oregon, Pink-sided and Gray-headed Junco together as
Dark-eyed Junco.
NESTING & FEEDING:
BREEDING: Coniferous and deciduous forest and edge, open woodland, bogs. 2 broods,
occasionally 3 in s, 1 at higher elevation and latitude. Mating system is believed to be
monogamous.
DISPLAYS: Courting pair hop with wings drooped, tail fanned displaying white outer
feathers; from low perch male droops wings, spreads and droops tail, sings softly.
NEST: Usually in shallow depression with overhead protection, often against vertical
surface; rarely in shrub, tree, or building; of coarse grass, moss, rootlets, forbs, bark,
twigs, fined with fine materials. Female builds nest with help from male.
EGGS: 3 to 5 White to pale bluish-white, marked with reddish-browns, often wreathed.
0.8" (19 mm).
CHICK DEVELOPMENT: Female incubates. Incubation takes 12-13 days. Development is altricial
(immobile, downless, eyes closed, fed). Young leave the nest after 9-13 days. Both sexes
tend young.
DIET: Wide variety of seeds. Including a few spiders. Nestlings fed 100% insects,
initially partly regurgitated.
CONSERVATION: Winters s to n Mexico. Uncommon cowbird host.
NOTES: Territorial conflict uncommon. Female broods nestlings. Later clutches smaller.
Rapid tarsal development enables nestlings to run from nest if threatened before they can
fly. Foraging flocks occasionally with chickadees, bushtits, nuthatches, kinglets,
sparrows, in spring and fall. Roosts in conifer trees, old nests, rock crevices, on
ground. Winter flocks of 10-30 with definite social ranking and mutually exclusive
foraging territories. Males tend to winter farther n than females. Several races, formerly
regarded as species, now combined in Dark-eyed Junco: Slate-colored, Oregon, White-winged,
Gray-headed, and Guadalupe Junco.
WORLD RANGE:
Junco hyemalis DARK-EYED JUNCO. Forest, edge, bogs, open woodland, brushy areas.
From wc Alaska, n Yukon, nw,c Mackenzie, s Keewatin, n,sc Saskatchewan and n Manitoba e
across c Canada to Labrador and Newfoundland and s from sc,se Alaska to s Calif. and n
Baja Calif., in mts. to ec Calif., s Nevada, s Utah, ne Arizona, sc,s New Mexico, w Texas,
c Colorado, s,ne Wyoming, e S. Dakota, c Montana, s Alberta, se,c Saskatchewan, c
Manitoba, n,ec Minnesota, c Wisconsin, c Michigan, ne Ohio, n Pennsylvania, se New York
and sw to ne New England and in the Appalachians to n Georgia and nw S. Carolina. The
various races winter from s Alaska and c Canada s to n Mexico, Gulf coast and s Florida; e
and sw mountain populations rarely winter to the western U.S.
This species formerly was divided into Slate-colored, Oregon (including Pink-sided),
White-winged and Gray-headed juncos, but these forms intergrade freely, sometimes forming
wide areas where intergrades occur, except where suitable nesting habitat is restricted.
Rarely hybridizes with Zonotrichia albicollis
