4 Dark-Eyed Juncos

This gallery contains 4 photos. One of the most fun autumn birds I’ve had the opportunity to photograph, since first spotting them in the backyard in 2013. They battle constantly for food (even when there is plenty!), and theseground-based fights sometimes culminate into spectacular vertical aerial dogfights in a matter of seconds! Sometimes I think the Juncos toss seed out of the hanging feeders, just so they can pick it up off the ground. Photographed on September 27.

this guy was too busy foraging for fallen seed to care about how close I was to him.
f/11, 1/60, 150-500mm telephoto lens, 500mm, ISO 1600

The tri-coloured Oregon variety of these sparrows is what we normally see, but on two different occasions, we’ve seen a representative of the Slate-Coloured variety, too (and even the Pink-Sided variety — but that has only happened once). Photographed on September 27.

another male Dark-Eyed Junco, but of the Slate-coloured variety.
f/11, 1/60, 150-500mm telephoto lens, 500mm, ISO 1600

Bath time for Junco! This is a top-down view of one enjoying a bath in one of the upended garbage can lids that has been filled with rich topsoil. We have a proper birdbath, but they like “mudbaths” even more (for drinking and bathing)! Even with three such mudbaths set up, demand can lead to lineups, line jumpers, short tempers, and squabbles (bathers include Song Sparrows, House Finches, Black-Capped and Chestnut-Backed Chickadees, Red-Breasted Nuthatches, Spotted Towhees, White-Crowned Sparrows, Golden-Crowned Sparrows, Fox Sparrows, and even Golden-Crowned Kinglets). Photographed on October 20.

The blue/purple/green streaks are splashes of water that are tossed up as it bathes.
f/10, 1/10, 150-500mm telephoto lens, 500mm, ISO 1250

Lately, the Juncos have taken to raiding the suet feeder as well as the regular bird seed mix, nyjer, and sunflower seeds — leaving little or none for the Bushtits who swarm fleetingly in big flocks, the Black-Capped and Chestnut-Backed Chickadees, the Downy Woodpeckers, and the Northern Flickers. Sometimes the suet feeder needs to be replenished daily–but when 10-15 of these sparrows show up almost every day, you can see how that can happen! Photographed on October 18.

a female Dark-Eyed Junco (with a gray head) poses on a fruit tree branch.
f/8, 1/60, 150-500mm telephoto lens, 500mm, ISO 1600, flash on

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