The Juncos Are Here The Juncos Are Here – Backyard Birding

The Juncos Are Here – Backyard Birding

The Juncos are here, the Juncos are here. Yesterday was the first time in months that I have seen Juncos in my backyard. These pretty chocolate colored birds, with their milk chocolate bodies and dark chocolate heads, are one of our usual harbingers of winter and are one of my favorite winter birds. Although their range map says that they are supposedly here year round, in our specific area they are not (at least not in my back yard.)  I found this amazing video of a mother Junco and her babies. (Obviously, somewhere in their summer range)

Yesterday morning I noticed the first Junco of the season on my bird feeder. This is unusual, as they are usually ground feeders. I guess they couldn’t find any seed on the ground. So, this morning, the first thing I did was put some seed in the feeder, so that some could fall to the ground for them. Or maybe they should eat at the feeder since I have cats.

We will have the Juncos all winter and into the spring, and then they usually disappear somewhere around late May or June.

The Jays returned quite a bit earlier, and you can hear their raucous call all through our neighborhood. So far, we have seen no Flickers, but I have heard them. No doubt, they too will come to my back yard. Nor have I seen many Bushtits. These tiny birds flock and will land, in mass, twittering, into a shrub before leaving for the next shrub.

Backyard birding is what I do in winter, when I can’t get out into my garden. Somehow, I notice more of the birds in winter than I do in summer, except for our ever present hummingbird wars. Probably, because I have so much else to look at in summer. Well, anyway, the Juncos have arrived; and I will be looking forward to many more of them throughout the fall and winter.