Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Another Recent Spring Arrival

Dark-eyed Junco - Oregon
In the fall, the Northern Juncos migrate to their winter range in the south, and beginning around the middle of March (I saw one on the 17th March near the bird feeders) they arrive back to their breeding habitat in the coniferous and mixed forests to the north.

The Junco in the above photo was foraging under the Birch tree in the backyard where the snow had recently melted.  He stamped his feet every now and again searching for seeds that had fallen to the ground during the winter.  

The Junco was first described by Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician, Carl Linnaeus in Systema Naturae (1758).