The song he always sings
And speaks to me of flowers
That will bloom again in spring.
By Gene MacLelland, Sung by Anne Murray
Dark-eyed junco
My parents were snowbirds. In their later years, they would flee Illinois winters to bask in the Arizona sun. I believe that New Englanders who head to Florida in the winter months are also known as snowbirds though I’m not sure what Floridians and Arizonans who head north in the summer to escape the heat are called - sunbirds, I suppose. But the real bird with the snowbird nickname is the dark-eyed junco. Juncos are among the most common North American songbirds with slight variants found everywhere. Juncos may be present all year in most places, but they prefer to go north to the Canadian and Alaskan tundra or to higher elevations in the Appalachian or Rocky Mountains to breed during the summer. Thus, when they return in large numbers as they have lately in our yard, they bring with them the first snows of winter as they have to us this week. And make me long for the “flowers that will bloom again in the spring.”
In spite of their reputation as harbingers of snow and cold, juncos migrate in response to changes in the light not the temperature. Regardless of the light or the temperature, they always arrive impeccably dressed in their dark grey evening jackets and white shirts with a flash of white on their tails. In fact, the New England variety were once called the slate-colored juncos before the dark eyes won. Other varieties (all of the same species) include gray-headed, Oregon, pink-sided, white-winged, and Guadalupe. Ironically, the Guadalupe junco native to the Mexican island of that name and the source of the junco name is nearly extinct due to predation by feral cats and habitat destruction by feral goats.
Juncos are members of the larger new world sparrow family. They were happy to see our feeders go up last week, but generally prefer to find their sunflower seeds on the ground where they have been dropped by other birds just as they usually feed off of the forest floor in summer. Fairly quiet in the winter, they will sing their loud, steady musical trill once spring arrives….and the flowers bloom again.