The Vault: Winter Birds - Dark-eyed Junco

With the advent of winter here in South Carolina, I'm always excited to find that the Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) has once again decided to visit our backyard. The junco is a passerine bird (see my post about blue jays for more info) and this particular species belongs to the family Emberizidae, whose members are known as buntings in Europe and sparrows in North America. Like the other birds in this family, juncos primarily eat seeds and have finch-like beaks. In fact, they act a lot like finches, too. Now, although they eat seeds, they're not apt to perch on a feeder but prefer to feed on the ground, hopping about and picking up delicious morsels.

The taxonomy of juncos is ever-evolving, as there are many subspecies and hybrids and there don't appear to be distinct lines between them all the time. Our juncos have slate-colored heads, necks, and upper breasts (forming a dark hood) with pink beaks and white bellies; they probably belong to either the subspecies Junco hyemalis hyemalis or Junco hyemalis carolinensis. However, wintering dark-eyed juncos form large flocks and there can be more than one subspecies in a flock.

Female (softer hue of gray, some brown coloring):

Male (sharp contrast of gray and white):

Interesting note: Junco partnerships are monogamous; once they become mating partners, the male follows the female around, hardly ever straying more than 50 feet from her.

References:
http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Junco_hyemalis/ (BioKIDS)
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Dark-eyed_Junco/lifehistory (Cornell Lab or Ornithology)
http://www.oceanwanderers.com/JuncoID.html ("Juncos: what do we know?")
http://eol.org/pages/1052968/overview (Encyclopedia of Life)
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Junco_hyemalis/ (Animal Diversity Web)
http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/dark-eyed-junco-junco-hyemalis (Internet Bird Collection)
http://www.wbu.com/chipperwoods/photos/junco.htm (Chipper Woods Bird Observatory)
http://www.nenature.com/IDTips/dark-eyed-junco-idtips.htm (ID tips)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2010/oct/14/2 (considered a mystery bird)
http://birdweb.org/birdweb/bird/dark-eyed_junco (BirdWeb)