[Birdtalk] Re; spring arrivals

[Kristin Purdy]

Matt,

I've also seen juncos in display in the last week and what I witnessed was 
pretty funny. More on that later.

I checked Cornell's Birds of North America online (subscription service) to 
answer your question. The junco species account says that non-migrational 
juncos (those that simply move lower in elevation for the winter) form pair 
bonds as early as January and before moving back to higher elevation 
breeding grounds. Birds that winter at more southerly latitudes may do this 
as well. Juncos that clearly migrate wait to form pair bonds until they 
return to breeding territories.

I have never seen breeding juncos at our lower elevations, only in the 
mountains. Perhaps other birders have had other experiences.

I watched two juncos under one of my feeders last week. They were performing 
a display that might be called the head dance, and is termed a threat 
display. However, the birds appeared to be a male and a female, rather than 
two males. The birds faced each other and made themselves as tall as 
possible by stretching their legs and head upward. Each bird did a jerky 
little head bob, and then scampered a few steps away and did it again. This 
performance lasted a couple minutes.

I came across this reference a couple times, but was unable to find the 
actual article on line:

Balph, M. H. 1977. Winter social behaviour of Dark-eyed Juncos: 
communication, social organization and ecological implications. Anim. Behav. 
25: 859-884.

Perhaps you could find Balph's article in your university library. It's 
likely a good source because Balph did his study on the oreganus subspecies 
in Utah.

Kris

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Matt Mills" <mattymills2005 at yahoo.com>
To: <birdtalk at utahbirds.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 11:50 AM
Subject: [Birdtalk] Re; spring arrivals


> As a follow-up to Colby's e-mail, I had a singing male
> SPOTTED TOWHEE on the south side of BYU Campus on
> Friday (March 14th) and a TURKEY VULTURE flying over
> the same area on Sunday, March 16th.
>
> As for JUNCOS, I've heard many singing and even seen a
> few engaging in chasing one another around. Just a
> question - do Juncos breed at lower elevations? If
> not, do they pair up in the valleys and actually move
> to higher elevations together?
>
> Many other birds have been singing here in Provo
> lately, especially house finches and starlings. An
> AMERICAN ROBIN singing on Wednesday (Mar 12) on 500 E
> 300 N in Provo was a first for the year for me.
>
> Take it easy,
>
> Matt Mills
> Provo
> mattymills2005 at yahoo.com
>
>
> 
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