[wisb] Re: Juncos (Oregon vs Brown Slate-colored)
- From: "Tom Schultz" <trschultz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <malcolmgold@xxxxxxxxx>, "Wisconsin Birding Network" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:37:39 -0600
Junco ID down to the subspecies can be extremely challenging, as they are
quite variable across their North American range, and there is a fair amount
of mixing (or "hybridizing") that occurs -- making it very difficult to make
precise descriptions of the ID criteria for all of them. Your birds may be
what are called "Cassiar" juncos, which is sort of a general term that is
used for a particular hybrid swarm. A subspecies term that is often used is
"cismontanus".
One can do an internet search for this "Cassiar Junco" term, and/or look at
the following webpages. The first link below is a sort of synopsis of the
Dark-eyed Junco that lists the various subspecies, and the second one is a
lengthy discussion of junco identification that might be read if one is more
deeply interested. There are also some photo links included there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark-eyed_Junco
http://www.oceanwanderers.com/JuncoID.html
Birds referred to as "Oregon Juncos" actually include several subspecies,
and they are probably much less frequent in Wisconsin than many birders
believe.
Tom Schultz
Green Lake Co.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Malcolm Gold" <malcolmgold@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "Wisconsin Birding Network" <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 2:40 PM
Subject: [wisb] Juncos (Oregon vs Brown Slate-colored)
>I wish I had some great birding news, but alas I have not been out birding
> lately. Rather I am looking for a clarification regarding Dark-eyed
> Juncos
> (Juncos). I have read a couple of posts (Tim & Chris) regarding Oregon
> Juncos. Being relatively new to birding (only a couple years of actually
> paying attention), I wonder what is the difference between an Oregon Junco
> and a brown Slate-colored Junco.
> My wife took a few pictures at her parents' house in central MN over the
> holiday break, and having seen similar Juncos growing up I assumed they
> were
> brown slate-colored Juncos. Any other opinions? The first three are the
> pictures themselves, of which I assume there are two different birds but I
> am not certain considering I was not there and my wife does not recall.
> The
> later link is in case the first links do not work and takes you to the
> photo
> stream.
>
> http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4069/4289286663_c057049464_b.jpg
> http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2763/4290025336_3ced24a39a_b.jpg
> http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4290022730_e2df8ba648_b.jpg
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/malcolmgold/
>
> - Malcolm Gold
> Marshfield, Wood County
> http://mcmdgold.blogspot.com/
>
>
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