I have evidence that the Dark-eyed Juncos you have been seeing the last days are not the ones that have been around much of the winter. Today at Carpenter Nature Center we traped and banded 45 juncos and only one was a retrap. We have banded birds each Friday all winter and we banded many juncos, but today and last Friday, when we banded 27 juncos, they were all new, no retraps. Our winter juncos have moved north and what we have now are Iowa juncos, or some other place south of us. Fun, but frustrating is seeing a shrike in late March or early April. Elizabeth and I spent 20 minutes yesterday with some looks less than 100' away and in good light, with good quality glass and the bird had attributes of both Loggerhead and Northern. Too bad we did not have one of each side by side.
-- Tom Bell 5868 Pioneer Road South Saint Paul Park MN 55071 651 459-4150
