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Depending who you talk to, there are in North America anywhere from three to a dozen kinds of junco, a small bird in the sparrow family, and each has slightly different coloration. In some places, the ranges of these birds overlap, and they interbreed easily there, so scientists now consider all to be one species – dark-eyed juncos. Each color pattern indicates a subspecies, though; the grayish juncos we see in New England are part of the slate-colored group, which has three subspecies. Are you confused yet?
From October to April, juncos are common visitors at bird feeders in Massachusetts. Most juncos breed in Canada in the spring and summer. They migrate south out of Canada in the fall. Even though New England winters may seem harsh compared with points farther south, they are mild enough for some hardy juncos to overwinter here. Juncos are sometimes called snowbirds because they seem to appear in snowy weather. In the winter, they commonly form flocks that spread out to forage during the day but come together to roost at night. At bird feeders, the dominant birds eat first.
Not all juncos winter in the same place, however. Young males tend to overwinter the farthest north. This gives them an advantage in the spring, for they can be the first to arrive at summer breeding grounds. But overwintering in the north is not without risk. A cold, harsh winter can kill many of these youngsters.
Older males overwinter farther south. In this way, they avoid the coldest, harshest weather, but they are still able to return to their northern breeding ground in time to stake out a territory. Females overwinter the farthest south. They avoid the cold weather altogether and can find good sources of food. Females need to be well-nourished to lay healthy eggs in the spring.
Although most juncos migrate north to breed in Canada, a few breed in Massachusetts. In the summer you might find them nesting in conifer forests in the higher elevations of Worcester or Berkshire counties.
Most of the year, juncos are primarily seed and berry eaters. During the breeding season, however, insects make up a large portion of their diet. During this time, they might eat moths, butterflies, caterpillars, beetles, ants, wasps or flies.
Juncos hop along the ground foraging for seeds or insects. They scratch by hopping back and forth with both feet. In winter, if needed, they scratch away a thin layer of snow to make a 3- to 4-inch diameter clearing. If you frighten one, it will fly off, flashing its white outer tail feathers.
When warm spring weather finally arrives, the juncos that have overwintered are joined by birds that have wintered farther south. Together, the birds form a large flock and fly off to their breeding grounds in the north.
These birds are not intimidated by the cold. Ornithologist Edward Howe Forbush observed juncos bathing in streams of melting snow in August and taking snow baths in winter, much the way other birds might take a dust bath.
These hardy birds have even been known to go mountain climbing. Forbush once observed, “There, higher even than we could climb, perched on the very ridgepole of the hotel at the tiptop of Mount Washington, was a gray and white midget of a bird, greeting us with its cheery Junco song, the only bird which is regularly found in summer in this barren place.”
In the late 1800s, juncos were prevalent around Cambridge. According to William Brewster,
Juncos, in flocks containing from six or eight to fifteen or twenty birds each, may always be found in winter in the Cambridge Region. At this season I used to see them in our garden and also in many other parts of Cambridge, but most numerously and frequently by far in the country immediately to the westward of Mount Auburn … I have long since ceased to note them in the city of Cambridge excepting during migration.
He goes on to note, however, that the birds can still be found a little farther west in Arlington and Belmont:
At the height of the migrations in November and March they are found practically everywhere, but oftenest and in the greatest numbers about weedy fields, in apple and pear orchards, and along brush-grown lanes and roadsides. So very abundant are they at times, that I have known upwards of one hundred birds to be started in a single field, and several hundreds to be seen during a morning walk or drive … During February, 1895, Juncos suffered greatly from cold and starvation at their winter haunts in the Middle and Southern States, and since then they have not revisited Massachusetts in anything like their former numbers.
Perhaps the birds also learned to avoid humans:
On March 25, 1874, while crossing the corner of a field in Watertown, not far to the westward of Mount Auburn, I started a large flock of Juncos from a patch of weeds. They took refuge among some bushes which fringed an old stone wall and, as I advanced, flitted on ahead after the manner of most Sparrows when pursued. Happening to want a specimen, I selected a bird which perched for a moment on the top of the wall, and shot it.
Luckily for juncos (and other birds), photography has today overtaken shooting as the preferred method for capturing wild bird characteristics.
Have you taken photos of our urban wild things? Send your images to Cambridge Day, and we may use them as part of a future feature. Include the photographer’s name and the general location where the photo was taken.
Jeanine Farley is an educational writer who has lived in the Boston area for more than 30 years. She enjoys taking photos of our urban wild things.
The far left and far right of the background on the feature image to this post (not seen above) was generated digitally and is not real. The rabbit was photographed and is real.
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