Junco family

[takncarabizniz]

The silly Juncos built their nest in the ground...so now I have a huge area of weeds I dare not venture into...but I did manage to get a few photos.  Including Mom and Dad guarding the nest from above...

[pacifica]

Sweet things! I looked them up and read your type of land/area is the perfect home for them.

[pacifica]

"Vivacious little juncos...stick with us through rain, snow, wind and gloom. The dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis) is about as glamorous as an old toaster, but for all its ordinariness, it’s Washington’s most reliable backyard bird...

Dark-eyed juncos are here year-round, nesting and foraging on the ground or in hopper-type and platform feeders. They prefer black oil and hulled sunflower seeds, peanut kernels, millet, thistle seeds and occasionally suet mixes.

These dependable little residents weigh in at about ¾ ounce, and have been clocked flying at 26 mph. They come in many color variations, though the “Oregon” race is the one most frequently found in Washington. Even with the color variations, one thing is for sure: The flick of the white outer tail feathers on a departing bird says junco.

Dark-eyed juncos used to be classified in the finch family Fringillidae and are still called a finch in some references. But they are now in the very closely related family Emberizidae, the wood warblers, tanagers, cardinals, grosbeaks, buntings, blackbirds and sparrows.

If you look in your field guide, juncos are likely placed among the sparrows, to which they are most closely related.

Think of the junco as an environmental barometer. If the junco population starts to decline, we will know our environment is in serious trouble.

Like any of the common backyard birds, it is enormously important to monitor them, so we can catch a crisis at the beginning.

Patricia Thompson is a wildlife biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. She can be reached at http://wdfw.wa.gov."

[pacifica]

From Wiki "These birds forage on the ground. In winter, they often forage in flocks.
They eat mainly insects and seeds. They usually nest in a well-hidden location on the ground or low in a shrub or tree."

So nice you have a cozy little home for them.

[sunshine]

How sweet is that?!

[takncarabizniz]

These funny, little birds have nested in a hanging fuchsia basket and in my hostas before...

That's really great information pacifica, I usually gauge our environment on the bats, butterflies, and frogs (which with all the dry weather are now non-existent), but knowing there is a bird we can count on as well, really helps.  I have at least a dozen different birds visiting the feeders and with the giant Barred owl we snapped pictures of a few weeks ago, we know we have predators as well.
We found a pile of crow feathers and one crow joint feather in the woods yesterday, I think it might have been the owl who took it down, though we have coyotes and bobcats in the area as well.  Really have to keep an eye on Ozzie now, with all the hawks and eagles teaching their young to fly.

[pacifica]

O Ozzie! Keep safe. Still think of his strut pose photos when he was "in charge" of your deck construction @ your city house lol. He's so Adorable! So he's gone from his own small kingdom to a large one. Do you have to keep him on a leash when he explores your acres? If he even does. With all the wildlife, really something to think about.

Bats, butters and frogs, yes sounds like important environmental gauges for your area as well.

Takn, now i know why you call those funny birds silly! They love your hostas & hanging plants? lol. Fuchsias make a nice nursery apparently.

[emilyB]

We have a lot of sparrows and juncos and they are such little characters.  They sit on the deck rail and squabble.