When I was a boy, back before Interstate highways and air-conditioned vehicles, we played games in the car to occupy time and take our minds off the fact that it was hot as hell and we weren’t going very fast.
One game we played was Guess My Pretty Bird. In the game (usually played outside), someone with a cup full of water doused whoever guessed the name of the bird he or she was thinking of. It was unclear whether whoever had guessed right was the winner or loser. But in the car, with no water, the winner was clearly whoever guessed the name of the mysterious bird.
On one particular trip, it was Daddy’s turn to pick the name of a bird and we guessed and guessed and guessed.
Robin, cardinal, pigeon, chicken, duck, starling, woodpecker, sparrow….and on and on.
Nobody could guess the name of Daddy’s secret bird and we began to suspect he was pulling our leg. Finally, we all gave up. No one had a clue,
“It was a Junco,” Daddy said.
Junco? You mean a snowbird?
“No, I mean a Junco, that’s its name.”
I have never forgotten that, and recently our small flock of Juncos made an appearance at our feeder.
Juncos, like the snow, come to Virginia in the winter. They hang around until spring, then vamoose – spending their summers and fall up north someplace, often Canada. But we have the little fellows for a few months, and I enjoy seeing them scratching in the dirt for a loose seed with an occasional flight up to the feeder.
The official name for our little “snowbirds” is the Dark-eyed Junco. Like many birds, they have a well-established hierarchy and the dominant birds get first dib’s on feeding positions. They gather in small flocks of a dozen or so birds. Like its cousin, the sparrow, a Junco is more comfortable on the ground. They use both feet to “double scratch” and locate a hard-to-find seed.
The male and female birds differ in appearance with the male bird much darker with a slate gray body but a lighter gray chest and distinct white in the tail feathers, quite noticeable in flight. The females are more tan than black. Sometimes Juncos will nest in Western Virginia, rather than fly northward, but when the weather breaks in Eastern Virginia, they split.
It’s nice, however, to have them around for a few months. If you ever want to stump the panel in a spirited game of Guess the Pretty Bird, the Dark-eyed Junco is an excellent choice.