Medium-sized sparrow with round head, long tail, and fairly small, pale bill. All juncos have prominent white outer tail feathers. Male "Slate-colored" form is mostly gray with white belly.
Medium-sized sparrow with round head, small, pale bill, and long tail with white outer feathers. "Oregon" form of western North America has dark brown hood, light brown back, buffy sides, and white belly.
Breeds in forests; "Slate-colored" form is mostly clean gray with white belly. White outer tail feathers (present even in juvenile) and high, thin chip notes are distinctive.
All juncos have pale bills and white outer tail feathers that they flash in flight. "Pink-sided" form around Rocky Mountains has a slate-gray head, brown back, and pinkish-brown sides.
Medium-sized sparrow with white outer tail feathers and small bill. "Red-backed" form of southwestern U.S. has gray head, dark face, and bright reddish brown back. Upper mandible of bill is darker gray than lower.
Medium-sized sparrow with small bill. "Gray-headed" form has gray head, dark face, and bright reddish brown back; very similar to "Red-backed" form but with all-pale bill.
Medium-sized sparrow with small, pale bill and white outer tail feathers. "White-winged" form is slightly paler gray than "Slate-colored" form, with faint white wingbars and a dark face.
White outer tail feathers are very prominent in flight but inconspicuous on ground. "Gray-headed" form of interior western North America has mostly gray head and body with reddish-brown back. This video has no audio.
The "cismontanus" subspecies breeds in the Yukon Territory and British Columbia. It has a dark brown head, brown back, and white belly.
Female and young "Slate-colored" form are variable; can be much browner than the males.
"White-winged" form resembles "Slate-colored" form but has two white wingbars. It occurs in a small range in the central United States. This video has no audio.
Juvenile juncos are streaky, but note the white outer tail feathers and round-headed, small-billed general appearance.
"Slate-colored" males have a gray head, throat, and breast that contrasts with a white belly.
The Dark-eyed Junco is a medium-sized sparrow with a rounded head, a short, stout bill and a fairly long, conspicuous tail.
Slightly larger than a Chipping Sparrow.
sparrow-sized or smallerThere is a huge range of geographic variation in the Dark-eyed Junco. Among the 15 described races, six forms are easily recognizable in the field and five used to be considered separate species until the 1980s. A field guide is the best place to look for complete illustration of ranges and plumages, but in general there are two widespread forms of the Dark-eyed Junco: “slate-colored” junco of the eastern United States and most of Canada, which is smooth gray above; and “Oregon” junco, found across much of the western U.S., with a dark hood, warm brown back and rufous flanks. Other more restricted variations include the slate-colored-like “white-winged” and Oregon-like “pink-sided” juncos of the Rockies and western Great Plains; and the Yellow-eyed Junco-like “red-backed” and “gray-headed” juncos of the Southwest.
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