Hi all, I'd like to add a little to what Jeff said so well about junco races, if I may.
I band juncos in my yard in Mountain Shadows in Colorado Springs, and while we get mostly Pink-sided, Oregon, and Gray-headed, we also get regularly Slate-colored (with a few Cassiar/cismontanus), and White-winged. What I would add, seeing birds in the hand, is that males of many juncos will have a white or about 1/2 white R4, and White-winged often show a white R3, and maybe some white on R2 as well! Also,I have seen maybe three "white-winged Slate-colored Juncos" in the last 10 years, as rare as they are. They are usually much darker than the pale gray White-winged, appreciably smaller, and more lightly built. Also, last year I had two different White-winged Juncos without white 2 wingbars! There is a lot of variation out there, not even counting the intergrades. Good birding, Steve Brown Colorado Springs Sent from my iPad > On Nov 26, 2013, at 9:16 PM, "Jeff J Jones" <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Robert, > > They could certainly be of either race. Both occur here, and currently I have > a few of both races at my feeders daily here in Teller County at 8,500'. > > The white-winged is a noticeably larger junco and a very light gray. If you > get good looks, they can be distinguished by having one more white tail > feather (r4) on each side of the tail than the other races. Giving the > distinct look of more white in the tail. Best seen on take-off or if they > happen to spread their tail while feeding. > > The Slate-colored group (I believe only the hyemalis subspecies will have the > occasional wing bars), is a smaller, darker-gray junco; and again with > one-less white tail feather (r4 being dark) on each side, giving the > impression of a darker overall tail. > > With that said, I have certainly seen individuals with significant wing-bars > that I would not definitely put in either race; and I leave them as "unknown > as to race". > > I hope this helps. Let me if you get any pics. > > Jeff J Jones > ([email protected]) > Teller County - 8500' - Montane Woodlands > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of > Robert Bowling > Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 4:06 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [Bulk] [cobirds] Question regarding Juncos at Fawn Brook Inn, > Allenspark > > Among the 6 Juncos at Fawn Brook Inn Sunday were two that appeared to be of > the White-winged race. Does anyone know if they were likely that race or what > Sibley describes as the "rare" Slate-colored with white wing bars. We were > unable to compare body or bill size with the others as they kept separate and > our camera battery died so no pics. > > Other birds seen were 1 female Evening Grosbeak a resting (appeared sickly) > BC and MT Chickadees a flitting , 7 Steller's Jays a pushing, 5 Pygmy > Nuthatches a hopping, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers a drumming (male and female > of both species), and one Magpie and House Finch each, sorry no Partridge. > > Robert Bowling > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/33a6e3e0-347c-45b5-8dd7-802caba1e506%40googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Colorado Birds" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/059d01ceeb1f%2413a55940%243af00bc0%24%40JonesTC.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/11578DA8-EE87-4C02-8810-FCBFE2508547%40gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
