Dark-eyed Junco
Junco hyemalis · New World Sparrows
Banding codeDEJU
Keys to identifying it
1Size & shape
About 6 in long.
2Color pattern
- Dark hood — gray or black depending on the form
- Pale pink bill
- White outer tail feathers flash in flight
3Habitat & season
Mountain forests in summer; lowland yards and feeders in winter
In northern Utah: year-round.
Seen most often in October, November, December, January and February.
Share of the region’s research-grade iNaturalist bird observations each month, scaled to this bird’s peak. Highlighted bars are its peak months.
4Voice
A musical trill on a single pitch; sharp 'tsik' and 'smack' calls.
“a ringing one-note trill”
National Park Service by Rocky Mountain National Park · Public domain
Know it
- Flashes bright white outer tail feathers every time it flies.
- Nicknamed the 'snowbird' because it shows up in lowland yards as winter arrives.
- Utah hosts several distinct-looking forms: Oregon, Pink-sided, Gray-headed and Slate-colored.
Often confused with
Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay
Black-capped Chickadee
House Sparrow- Western Bluebird
- Green-tailed Towhee
From iNaturalist identification data for northern Utah.
From Wikipedia
The dark-eyed junco is a species of junco, a group of small, grayish New World sparrows. The species is common across much of temperate North America and in summer it ranges far into the Arctic. It is a variable species, much like the related fox sparrow, and its systematics are still not completely resolved.
Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0