This past Friday I spotted a Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis), one of the birds that is present in my area only during the winter months. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology there is a huge range of geographic variation in the Dark-eyed Junco, with five variants of the bird considered separate species until the 1980s.
The bird in the photo below is a “slate-colored junco,” the only type that I have ever seen. Variants found in other parts of the United States, however, may have white wings, pink sides, red backs, gray heads, or a dark hood. Yikes—bird identification is hard enough under normal circumstances, but with that much variation, it seems almost impossible.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Great photo
Thanks so much for your support and encouragement. 🙂
The best gauge of winter in New England. They arrive like clock work, and the last day to seen is April 15th. In Connecticut we would always write on a calendar the last day they were seen.
Very nice capture of this cutie, Mike! I agree the “variant” thing is daunting, especially on these little birds.
Does anyone else here have the experience that we have with juncos here in Maryland, that we see them only when snow is expected (or falling, or on the ground). Where the heck do they go at other times???
That’s a mystery, Nina, for which I have not even the slightest clue. 🙂
I always thought they looked as if someone held them by the legs and lowered them into a dye bath submerging half of their body only!! I will have to note when I see the last one.