junco( dark-eyed)

Description:

The Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) is the best-known species of the juncos, a genus of small grayish American sparrows. This bird is common across much of temperate North America and in summer ranges far into the Arctic. It is a very variable species, much like the related Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca), and its systematics is still not completely untangled.

Notes:

Adults generally have gray heads, necks, and breasts, gray or brown backs and wings, and a white belly, but show a confusing amount of variation in plumage details. The white outer tail feathers flash distinctively in flight and while hopping on the ground. The bill is usually pale pinkish. This group has dark slate-gray head, breast and upperparts. Females are brownish gray, sometimes with reddish-brown flanks.[5] They breed in North American taiga forests from Alaska to Newfoundland and south to the Appalachian Mountains, wintering through most of the USA. They are relatively common across their range.