Bird of the Month: Dark-eyed Junco
Male Dark-eyed Junco. Photo by Colin Dobson.
By Roger Digges, CCAS Vice-President
At some point in our lives, usually when we’re very young, we begin to pay attention to those wondrous beings with feathers and learn what a few of them are, one species at a time—robins, cardinals, blue jays, crows, and others. But there are dozens more around us. We just don’t see or hear them because we’re not paying attention, or if we do, we have no idea what they are. However, if we become interested in them, we begin to pay attention again, to subtle variations in color or sounds of birds, and learn new names, one species at a time.
I am writing this column as one who is still learning for those who would like to know more about birds in our area, one species at a time. The best way to learn, of course, is by doing—going on our Sunday Morning Bird Walks in the spring or early fall, participating in our field trips, birding with a knowledgeable friend, going for a walk on your own in one of our local natural areas, or just paying attention to birds in your own backyard.
What will you see this month? Our familiar friends, robins, perhaps, (although fewer and harder to find in November) and cardinals and Blue Jays, and crows. But there will be other birds we can only see during the coldest months of the year, “snowbirds” fleeing the ice and snow further north.
Some snowbirds are already at local feeders, but the one I’d like to introduce you to this month (if you don’t already know it) is the Dark-eyed Junco. Juncos are sparrows, but unlike what we tend to think of when we heard the word sparrow—small brownish birds with black and/or white streaks. While juncos vary according to region, the one which visits our area is the slate-colored junco, which tends to be gray (males) or brownish gray (females) above and bright white below with a noticeable boundary between the two colors. They are readily identifiable by that contrast between the darker upper body and white belly, but especially the outer white tail feathers they flash conspicuously in flight.
The slate-colored variety of Dark-eyed Juncos nest throughout nearly all of Canada and northern United States as well as eastern and western mountains. They winter throughout nearly all the continental U.S. So, many of the birds we see during migration are just passing through while others will be spending all winter in east-central Illinois. According to eBird’s bar chart for Champaign County (in its “Explore” section), Dark-eyed Juncos have been spotted as early as late September and as late as early May. November and December are the best months to find them.
Where can you find juncos? According to Cornell Lab’s All About Birds, you can see them in “open woodlands, fields, roadsides, parks,” and I would add at your backyard feeders. They tend to be anywhere where there are trees. They are easy to spot. Even without binoculars, you can see those flashing white outer tail feathers as they fly up into cover. At my house, we have been seeing them daily since the cold snap in October. They prefer millet in a ground feeder, but also will eat black oil sunflower seeds in a hanging platform feeder or larger hopper feeder. Check out All About Birds for other food. You can also draw them closer by having a heated bird bath.
How are juncos doing? Like nearly all North American birds (and birds worldwide), they have declined in population, from 320 million birds to 220 million since 1966. That is still a lot of juncos, which is why the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) still lists them as “least concern,” their lowest threat level. We need to continue to work at preserving and expanding habitat, reducing pesticide use, making windows bird-safe, and keeping our cats inside. But we also need to enjoy our juncos and introduce others to them. As my six-year-old granddaughter said when she saw her first, “They’re so cute!”