Winter Sparrow

Every fall, we get two types of sparrows who arrive for the winter, having spent their summers as far north as Alaska.  This little Dark-eyed Junco is one of the two sparrow species, and I saw the first ones here in the garden about 3 weeks ago.  Their numbers are increasing now and they seem to be everywhere I look, usually scratching around under the feeders for seeds, or perched in a tree as seen here.

There are Dark-eyed juncos throughout the continental US; however, this species has 5 fairly distinct different color morphs so the DE juncos in the southwest look very different than ours, as do the Oregon DE juncos.  Our version are typically called the slate-colored DE junco and are just gray and white.  What I thought was interesting about this particular bird is that it has a noticeable reddish tinted patch of feathers on its head which is not something I've seen before on our slate colored juncos.  

Anyway, seemed like a good blip for today - nothing really special, but definitely a sign of the season.  

xo
Debbi