birdsoup

Today I saw the first Juncos of the season.  It is always nice to get re-acquainted with a bird I haven’t seen for many months.  However, Juncos are often considered the first sign of winter, so I fear we may be in for an early winter.

The common colloquial name for juncos is “snow birds” because they appear about the same time as snow. 

Juncos spend spring and summer much farther north, in Canada.  When cold weather arrives in Canada, Juncos begin their southward migration.  But rather than fly to the sunny beaches of Florida, they only travel down to Westchester.  They feel that winter weather in Westchester is warm and toasty enough.

Look for juncos in your backyard.  They are small, sparrow-sized birds with gray heads, back, wings and tail.  The under side is white.  The bill is pale or white in color.  But the most overlooked field mark when identifying them is their tail.  The outer feathers on both sides of the dark gray tail are white.  You only notice these white feathers when the bird flies away from you.  But once you learned to look for them, it is as obvious as waving a white flag. 

You seldom see only one junco.  They tend to gather in small flocks of 6-10 birds often with a chickadee or titmouse interspersed.  Since they are primarily ground feeders, most of the time they are directly on the ground or in shrubs and bushes only a few feet above the ground.  That means you are usually looking down at them and see mostly the gray upper parts and not the white undersides. 

If  juncos mean snow is coming, I hope we don’t see too many of them.  But if you should see one, look for the white outer tail feathers.