Darting Phantoms - Dark-Eyed Junco

Perched Dark-eyed Junco

A couple of weeks ago, it was Tufted Timouse that dominated the yard - this week it's Dark-eyed Junco. They are very timid - taking flight quickly if I do not open the sliding glass door ever so carefully. When they do, there is a flash of white that shows from behind with a flight pattern that bobs up and down as they make their exit. The juncos stay close to the ground, picking at the seeds that fall from the feeder, but they seem to continually dart in and out when they come
to feed. They are bullied slightly by the White Throated Sparrow who have also made a recent appearance, and stay clear of the mourning dove as they walk about looking for seeds on the ground as well.

White markings on tail

Unlike the White-breasted Nuthatch, they don't fly up off the ground to perch and find a place to crack open the seeds. I have been trying to catch a picture of the juncos in flight, and today caught just a part of one heading toward the cedars across the backyard fence - apprapo for the photo quest. Even though the juncos have stayed around the yard all winter, their number at a time - at least six - have increased, as well as their singing (1). We are familiar with these little critters because their close cousin the Oregon Junco was a frequent visitor to the bird feeder in the front yard patio area of our home in Corvallis. As a side note, when perched, the little head with a small face and what seems a disproportionately sized body (see the photograph in the upper left corner) gives the bird somewhat the appearance of what could be a character in the Jeff MacNelly political satire cartoon strip Shoe.
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(1) The birdjam Website is easier to access bird songs on than the Cornell Ornithology Laboratory site. birdjam has a limited number of song entries.

DRK i'd Junk-o

I got to see a new bird in our backyard this evening. I had meetings downtown this afternoon, and when things were finished there, it was too late to take my Metro train back out to where my car was parked and then drive back to the office - so I drove straight home from the Landover Station. At the beginning of last month I figured out how to use the hands-free feature in my car, so I can do some work calls while commuting - as of October 1, the Maryland law went into effect that disallows use of hand-held cell phones while driving. When I got home

and stepped out of the car, I was welcomed to the chirping of a northern cardinal - a male was in the top of the cherry tree in the front yard, his bright red coat contrasted against the dark gray clouded sky. After taking off my coat and tie, and placing my ID badge on the table next to the front door, I looked out the patio sliding glass door at the feeder to see if there was any bird action going on (1). There were three house finches jockying for position on the feeder. Just then a few darkish colored birds swooped into the yard, with one lighting on the gravel path. I had a pretty good idea of what general kind of bird it was, so a quick look at my copy of Peterson's A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America confirmed what I though: a dark-eyed junco. A description of this junco that is similar to the Oregon junco we were familiar with back home in Corvallis can be found by clicking at the U.S. Geological Survey Website here. When the birds swooped into the yard, their flight pattern was different from the other more regular frequenting species we see. The question for today is whether there were just passing through, or will be new regulars to our yard this winter. The dark-eyed juncos are widespread across much of the United States during the winter.
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(1) Did I ever mention that I can be a very dull blogger? Definition of dull found by clicking here.