I appreciate your interaction, but…
Squid Era’s long gone, homie. This is Cardboard Era.
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Dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis) in the grass, with (probably) common storkbill flowers (family Geraniaceae).
Photo by Xer S. Rowan, Creative Commons Attribution license
This image is free to use, as long as the license terms are followed. For information about my free photo project, the licensing, and where to download the high resolution versions, visit linktr.ee/DoingItForTheExposure.
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A neat thing about being alive is that at any point in your life, you could wind up going somewhere where you could see a dark eyed junco.
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A Dark-eyed Junco (slate-colored) stands on a pile of snow. 📸 Jocelyn Anderson/Audubon Photography Awards
As familiar as these “snowbirds" might be, they are still full of surprises. Like, did you know that Dark-eyed Juncos depend on smell just as much as looks to choose a mate? Birds-they’re just like us!
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ALTDark-eyed Juncos (Junco hyemalis) waiting to get at the feeders outside my apartment window during the January 24-25 snowstorm in Rogers, Arkansas
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Yellow-eyed Junco (Junco phaeonotus), family Passerellidae, order Passeriformes, SE Arizona, USA
photograph by Erik Lund
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Some more borbs!
The Borbs:
Dark-Eyed Junco, American Tree Sparrow, Townsend Warbler, European Sparrow, Sapoyoa
Shima Enaga, Lovely Cotinga, Spotted Towhee, Masked Fruiteater, Oregon Junco
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Corn Niblets
I wrote this several years ago and have re-blogged it but the juncos are so adorable – little puffball corn niblets. And they are ubiquitous during New England winters.
We all know I am not an ornithologist. I would liken myself to a very amateur birder. While I worked a great deal with my friend and mentor, Edith Andrews, over the years, particularly on her book, I still am TERRIBLE at shorebirds and warblers. Even harriers and hawks.
I grew up watching birds – my parents are birders. My Dad had a primo seat at the bird venue in his study – close to the feeders and the hummingbird feeder right outside the shop keeper’s style window of his study.
But (as I tend to do), I digress.
What are corn niblets and birds doing in the same blog you wonder? Well, that’s what I think of when I see Dark-eyed Juncos. Their beaks remind me of a piece of a corn kernel – and thus the niblets term. Believe it or not, I had never really seen – or maybe noticed – a Junco until I was in my early 20s and my husband and I were living outside Washington, DC where he was an officer stationed with the US Coast Guard. We had a large second story deck and I was feeding the birds. It was November or December and all these little birds with white-greyish breasts and black backs with little beaks showed up. I called my Mom who said, “That’s’ a Junco!’ And probably also then thought, “Duh.”
If you haven’t seen a Junco, they’re absolutely adorable and a harbinger of cold weather around these parts. Last year, I never seemed to glimpse one at all. We seem to have waves from year to year where we have a lot or they are few and far between. But in any case, I was rather excited to see one under my feeder the other day. I went back to look in my bird list and realized I never saw one in 2020 nor in 2021!
Now, identification books state they have a pink-ish beak but I always see them more as a yellowy color – maybe it’s my eyes – but it’s really the size that reminds me of a kernel of corn! But take a look and let me know what you think.
JNLF
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Dark-eyed Junco. I just cannot yet get the sheer FLOOF of when it’s really cold. I see them really often, but can’t get them to pose for a proper portrait!
I usually get a great view of their tails…
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Dark-eyed Junco in Provincetown 12/27/25
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Lots of junco action at my parents’ house. Leucistic junco in the middle—it has heavier white spotting on its other side but it’s a bit camera-shy.
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Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis), taken December 9, 2025, in Georgia, US
A small and brave junco perched above me, surveying the activity at the feeders! Despite having seen at least 3 in the woods surrounding me, there’s only 1 junco that I see visiting the feeders regularly. This individual has graduated from ground foraging when it first arrived to taking directly from the feeders, a far more efficient choice. Along this same vein, there is only a single eastern phoebe that visits the feeders–and has been for years–despite there being no way it’s the only one around. I think I’m more surprised the phoebe is visiting at all rather than not, but the lack of junco visitors, on the other hand, is a mystery to me! Perhaps they do visit, and I’m just seeing them one at a time!
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