Among the regular winter

visitors, like many of the

sparrows, are the Juncos

(Junco hyemalis). They are

Slate-colored Juncos, or

Dark-eyed Juncos – I don’t

think there is any difference

between them, other than

just what one feels like

calling them. In other parts

of the country there are

other subspecies, however.

This one is a male.

The female shown below was shot on 14 January 2010.

© Bob Vuxinic

15 DEC 2010

© Bob Vuxinic

© Bob Vuxinic

9 JAN 2011

© Bob Vuxinic

25 JAN 2012

© Bob Vuxinic

19 Feb 2012

© Bob Vuxinic

16 Mar 2012

As the date on this photo shows, the Juncos hang around until Spring before

they head north again. I haven’t recorded the absolute final date on which

I’ve seen them, but in 2012 I did note seeing them in my yard on April 1st.

If you’d like to know how you get a ground-level shot like this, it’s easy! First you buy a tent blind from the sporting goods store;

then you put it up, and stake

down the corners so that it

won’t blow away; then you

get inside with your camera

and lie on your belly; you

stick the camera out of the

blind, under the bottom hem

of the tent; and then hope

that a bird will be attracted

to the seed that you’ve

scattered on the ground,

and will not be deterred by the tent blind nor by that camera sticking out from beneath it, and, with luck, will pass in front of your lens. And then, all you have to do is wait...