After reading Dave Irons article in Oregon Birds about the various subspecies of Oregon Juncos and then reading a few OBOL posts on one of those subspecies, Pink-sided Juncos, I started looking more carefully at the numerous Juncos that come out to eat the seed I throw for them in front of our barn here in southwest Yamhill County. I had never noticed the diversity in colors. One in particular stood out and I wondered if it could be a Pink-sided. I sent the photo to OBOL and was told:
"Pink-sided have a darker buff color on the sides that comes farther down towards the center of the breast than this bird does. The cane crossing in front of it does block the sides of the bird but up front looks too narrow for Pink-sided. Pink-sided also are noticeably dark in the lores, between the base of the bill and the eye. There is a darker area but it above the area that would be blacker."
I took more photos the next day and am amazed at how different are these birds that I had always thought were the same.
Below is the paler variety. According to Dave Irons article in Oregon Birds, the brown on the head and lighter gray hood is typical of immatures and females. I do not know if this is the same bird I photographed the day before.
Nor do I know if it is the bird below on the old wood planter box. (They appear and disappear quickly.) This bird was very shy and hard to take a photo of.
Below are some of the black-headed males, which I cannot tell apart. There are lots of them.
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| Oops! Not a junco. A Brush Rabbit, which are common around here. |
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| Don't know if this light-headed junco is the same or a different one. |
The only non-Oregon junco I can tell for sure is the Slate-colored, which we have had here on our farm in the past.
Who knew Dark-eyed Juncos were so diverse! I'll be more observant now, thanks to Dave Irons' article.
