There was an Oregon Junco with grayish sides today on the banks of Beaver
Creek near Crabtree. When I first saw it, my thought was that it was a
female Cassiar Junco (Junco hyemalis cismontanus). But it seems that the
hood is too dark for a female, and the brown back too rich. A close look at
the sides show there are buffy feathers mixed with gray. So it's a male; an
Oregon Junco (J. h.
oreganus) that is somewhere in the spectrum between cismontanus and
oreganus.
There is supposed to be a photo below. Let me know if there are other ideas.
Good birding,
Jeff