White-throated Junco

 

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For more information about White-throated Junco subspecies, click here.

White-throated Junco, Junco albicollis  L 15-17 cm, WS 20-22 cm, Family: Passerellidae

IUCN Conservation Status: Least concern (LC)

 

Description:    

Medium-sized, long-tailed sparrow with a rounded head and a stout bill. Brown wings and tail, white outer tail feathers conspicuous in flight. Black head with yellow eyes and obvious white throat and malar stripes. Bill and legs pinkish. Three subspecies differ greatly in appearance. Eastern group, shown above, has a black back and breast with cream undersides. The western group has a brown back, black on the flanks, and a cream belly. A Kosatka Island group has a black back and fully brown undersides. Females of all groups similar to males but paler. Juveniles brown overall, with heavy streaking on back and undersides.

Voice:

Songs vary slightly between subspecies, but all are characterized by a clear, whistling trills, usually monotone and even paced. Most songs are a series of two to three distinct trills. Sounds similar to song of Sand-eared Sparrow, but less buzzy and more watery and musical. In areas where subspecies ranges overlap, mixed songs may be heard. They have many calls, the most common is a short, sharp tink which sounds somewhat watery. Other sounds include tinkling chatter and fast twitters.     

Range and Habitat:    

Each subspecies has distinct ranges, which together encompasses all of Novasola. In general, they are altitudinally migratory, breeding at higher elevations and migrating to lower elevations during the winter. Eastern group breeds in the Morning Mountains and coasts and will expand into the prairie and Fairweather Sound region during winter. Western group breeds across the western conifer forests and in the Paramounts and Angelics and will migrate into the Twin River basin and southern coast during winter. Kosatka Island group stays year-round on the island. Prefers forests, especially conifer or mixed conifer-deciduous forests, but can be found in most habitats, including other forests and woodlands, alpine tundra, wetlands, agricultural and developed areas, and, during winter, grasslands. Common feeder birds.

Discussion:      

White-throated Juncos are common, flashy sparrows across Novasola, whose bright yellow eyes, white throats, and white outer tail feathers which they flash during flight make them easy to recognize as they bounce about the forest floor. With three “morphs”, each a distinct subspecies group, juncos look quite different across their range, but all juncos share a similar charm.   

White-throated Juncos breed in forests at elevations ranging from sea level to 11,000 feet, and may breed higher above the tree-line in the Paramounts. During the breeding season the junco’s song can be heard easily and often. Their monotone trills, often in triplets, may be confused for the equally common Sand-eared Sparrow, but juncos often sing from exposed perches where they can quickly be seen and identified. While males sing to attract mates and defend territories, the female builds a nest on the ground, usually under the cover of dense undergrowth. Both parents incubate eggs and feed chicks, and will often pair for life. Outside the breeding season juncos are quite social and can be found in flocks of up to twenty individuals and because they flock during the same season they migrate to lower elevations and leave the forests, juncos are most easily observed during winter and are heavily associated with that season.

The White-throated Junco’s diet consists primarily of seeds, mostly of weeds, grains, and grasses and especially buckwheat, but during the breeding season they will also eat invertebrates like beetles and flies. They commonly visit bird feeders, where they prefer millet and sunflower seeds. Generally ground foragers, juncos are most often seen at or near ground level, but they will occasionally enter the canopy in search of insects, perches, or nest material. During winter juncos may be seen foraging in mixed flocks with other songbirds, especially other sparrows and chickadees.

By 1902 and the first NRC expedition, only one junco subspecies was described, at the time called the Novasola Junco. Richard Reichwald classified two other species of junco, what are now the Morning and Kosatka subspecies. To reflect our current classification of one single White-throated Junco species, and for the purposes of this exhibit, the Museum of Novasola has combined any of his writings about juncos. White-throated Junco taxonomy is complex and confounding, and the MON has provided more information here.

Like the closely related Mackenzie Sparrow, with which it has been known to hybridize, the White-throated Junco is more commonly seen in winter when they are more likely to visit yards and feeders, and it is a familiar bird of Novasolan forests with a bouncy character, soft appearance, and quick, agile flight. Their altitudinal migrations were used by early settlers of Novasola, probably unsuccessfully, to predict the severity of the coming winter season.

“Where the Novasola Junco stays itself, unable or unwilling to cross that highest barrier of the Paramounts, this other, eastern junco lays claim. This Morning Junco may be found in all country east of the Paramounts, with greatest concentrations in the Six Sister and Cook Mountains, and in the dry slopes of the east Uludacks. Wen winter besets the island with cold weather and snow, the Morning Junco may abandon its mountain residences and move to lower ground within the prairie sagebrush, and in these months can be found in every garden and every park of Artemis, and along the banks of every river, with outstanding numbers along the Massalick and the Roosevelt.” – Manual to Novasolan Birds, 1914  

“The third junco of the Fastwaters, and by far the least abundant, is the Kosatka Island Junco, who can be found nowhere outside its namesake homeland. Without the wide ranges in elevation available to Novasola and Morning Juncos, the Kosatka Island Junco foregoes migration entirely, and likewise abandons flocking behaviors. These birds are satisfied by, or by circumstance forced into, a solitary confinement, like so many other species endemic to such a remote island as this. I have not observed any flocks larger then five individuals on the island, excluding families with fledgling chicks, and in these groups there is an elevated sense of decorum, where no individual will suffer fools or allow others to enter their own intimate space.” – Manual to Novasolan Birds, 1914