Focus on Fledglings 2010 - 5

I'm so glad I have a little elevation where I live (1300') so I enjoy Dark-eyed Juncos year-round.  I saw a young junco first on June 18, just about the same time as last year.

Here's some things to look for to identify young juncos.

DARK-EYED JUNCO

First fledgling sighting:  June 18
What to look for:  Look for adult juncos feeding the young; they may be fed by adults for three weeks or more after leaving the nest. (Source: Stokes Guide to Bird Behavior Vol. III)

Look for these physical characteristics to help identify young juncos:

    * streaked neck and breast vs. gray neck and white breast of adults
    * can be more brownish overall rather than gray in color
    * sparrow-like streaks on head and back

The challenge may not be in differentiating the young junco from the adults, but rather identifying a young junco that is unaccompanied by an adult.  Young juncos can be sparrow-like in their look (a little brown job) and in their ground-feeding behavior.  Watch for signs of the developing white outer tail feathers, which are excellent field marks of the Dark-eyed Junco.  This is shown nicely in the photo above.

To aid in identifying any of the young birds in your own yard, anticipate what you may see based on the adult birds that visit your yard during breeding season.  Become comfortable with the adult birds' overall size and shape and feeding behaviors.  You'll find that despite plumage differences between young and adult, these characteristics - size, shape, and feeding behavior - will generally be similar and can be of great help in narrowing the possibilities and eventually identifying the young, unaccompanied bird visiting your yard.

Comments

[The Zen Birdfeeder]

Thanks much Eileen.

[Eileen]

How cool, I've never seen juvie Junco. They are cute. Great photos and post.

[The Zen Birdfeeder]

Slugyard - hope this helps you next time around!
Mick - thanks much.
Halycon - juncos are great little birds to have in the yard!
Larry - I'm not sure at what age they show up, but I've added a photo showing one of the white outer tail feathers coming in on a young bird.

[Larry Jordan]

Great advice for identifying fledgling birds in the yard Nancy. Excellent photos of the Dark-eyed Junco chicks too! We only have them in the winter so I have never seen a junco fledgling. They surely look like sparrows. At what point do they get the white border on the tail feathers?

[Halcyon]

I like juncos. We get some around here every once in awhile. This young one is cute!

[Mick]

Great photos and a very interesting description of the differences and similarities between the adults and juveniles.

[Slugyard]

Great info- very interesting! I often wonder when I spot "sparrows" that look just a bit off whether they are the young of a different bird. I'll pay more attention next time.

[The Zen Birdfeeder]

IDBirder - it is interesting! We have juncos year-round. Our summer residents head lower during the winter, replaced by winter juncos from higher elevations north of us!

[Idaho_Birder]

Interesting! I live at 3200' in Idaho and the DE Juncos head for the cooler mountains about 45 minutes north of Boise in the summer.