It appears that I have the ID of Cassiar's Junco (in photo link below from my previous post this morning) wrong. In further research, aided by the responses I have received, my thoughts on this subspecies (J. hyemalis cismontanus) have been incorrect all along. There is a good discussion on this found here: http://www.oceanwanderers.com/JuncoID.html among other places. I believe my reading of Pyle's textual description led me astray - for no good reason other than I just failed to interpret it correctly.
The consensus of the first two photos are that of a female nominate slate-colored - J. h. hyemalis. An imm male of this ssp would show a brownish back also, but this individual should probably be considered an adult because its terts are not edged in brown; therefore an adult female hyemalis ssp. Thanks for the input, and if anyone has any further ideas, please forward along. Hope this was helpful to some. Jeff J Jones ( <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]) Teller County - 8500' - Montane Woodlands From: Jeff J Jones [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 8:51 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Pictures of Cassiar Junco Ok - uploaded 2 grainy pics of the cassiar junco (cismontanus) to http://www.sendpix.com/albums/10111515/154425000000002508034870bf91e846f03dc 5648a3e0f/?p=1 Low light - through window - at 40 ft. So you get what you get. J If anyone wants to call it a band-tailed pigeon due to complete lack of picture quality I would understand! Along with those two pics is another low quality pic of an oregon group individual; and based on the lack of contrasting lore, I am inclined to call it a J. h. thurberi subspecies (according to Pyle). Would love to hear any feedback on either subspecies. Thanks and fyi. Jeff J Jones ( <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]) Teller County - 8500' - Montane Woodlands -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
