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The Juncos
The Juncos (genus Junco) are members of the largest family of
North American birds, the Fringilidae, which includes the
grosbeaks, finches, sparrows and buntings. They are gray, sparrow shaped
birds, unstriped, with white outer tail feathers and pale bills. The three
major points to observe for identification are head (black or gray), sides
(pinkish or gray), and back (rusty or gray). Females are duller than males.
There is frequent hybridization among the juncos, so it is sometimes
impossible to name all individuals.
The range of the juncos extends from the tundra south into Mexico, and from
coast to coast. The habitat includes open pine forests, mixed mountain
forests and other conifer forests. They are driven down from the mountains
by snow in winter and into roadsides, parks, gardens and brush of the
valleys. They are the principal winter bird in the Great Basin country.
They breed in the high country among ferns and brushy growth, Nests are
built on the ground in depressions under a low bush, in a hole between roots
of shrubs or trees. It is fashioned of dry grasses, compactly put together
flush with the surface, and lined with hair or fine fibers. Roger Tory
Peterson records, "One nest was found in Maine lined with deer hair gathered
from the remains of a deer that had perished in the woods the winter before.
Another was lined with the thin wiry stems of the hairy-cap moss that grew
nearby." Four or five spotted, bluish eggs are laid. A second brood is often
raised, but a new nest is build which is harder to find among the heavier
vegetation. Both parents share the incubating of the eggs and in feeding the
young, the diet of which includes a variety of insects and berries. Adults
are seed-eaters a large part of the year, but in summer their diet includes
animal life such as grasshoppers, lace-winged flies, green caterpillars, and
other insects.
Sometime in April there is a heavy northward movement, and juncos seem to be
everywhere. By May most of them have reached the cool woodlands where they
will nest. Arthur A. Allen comments, "When the slopes bloom with wild flowers,
flocks of gray-heads spread through the southern and central Rockies. The
rolling trills of these juncos are among the most familiar bird sounds in
the dry coniferous forests above six thousand feet."
The Gray-Headed Junco (Junco caniceps),
nests in Utah Mountains. The combination of ash-gray sides and wings, and
a bright rufous back distinguishes this species from all other juncos in
the United States. The Slate Colored Junco (Junco hyemalis),
has a gray back without rusty or brown areas, and is found in most of the
United States. The Oregon Junco (Junco oreganus) and Pink Sided
Junco (Junco oreganus mearnsi) are the only juncos common in the
Pacific states. The male of the first species has a rusty back, a black head
and throat, and buffy sides. The female has a gray head, rusty back, and pink
or brownish sides. There are a number of races of the Oregon Junco, but
only the Pink Sided is easily separable. It breeds in the northern Rockies.
The songs of all juncos are a loose musical trill on one pitch, similar to
the song of the Chipping Sparrow, but louder and more sistained.
The time to begin feeding these winter visitors is late Fall, before the
weather becomes really cold. Then they are travelling around in small flocks,
exploring the countryside, staking out winter territory where food will be
a certainty during the blustery months ahead. If one junco visits your
feeders, you will soon have a dozen or more of them, for they are gregarious
and the same flocks may keep together all winter. Most of the juncos go a
little farther south, and many go to the Gulf of Mexico. Approximately two
dozen juncos are feeding this winter on wild bird seed and suet at this
writer's feeders.
-- by Marie L. Atkinson
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