On Dec. 13 Dennis Paulson wrote:

> There are no records of the "white-winged" junco, J. h. aikeni, a
> largish subspecies of the Black Hills that looks like a slate-
> colored with white wing bars (obscured in breeding season), from
> the west coast.

Actually there is at least one record of white-winged Junco from
Oregon. The bird showed up at my feeder in Bend on 2/25/87 and
remained until early April. It was photographed, and the article
with description and photos appeared in Oregon birds in 1988. [I
don't have the citation with me at the office. Any Oregon Birders
out there with that info?]. In addition to having white wingbars
(which faded considerably as it approached the breeding season)
the bird was larger than the Oregon Juncos, was a lighter, and
"bluer" gray than Slate-colored Juncos, and had three white outer
tail feathers on each side, rather than the two present on Oregon
and Slate-colored Juncos. Dr. George Barrowclough (I hope I have
spelled his name correctly) at the National Museum of Natural History
(who was doing taxonomic research on the Junco complex) thought this
was the western most record of that form. He also indicated that his
preliminary research indicated that the White-winged Junco was a valid
species, as is the Gray-headed. Does anyone know what has become of
that research or if anyone is doing any DNA/DNA hybridization work
on the juncos?

For those of you not familiar with Oregon's geography, Bend is in
the central part of the state on the east slope of the Cascades.

Tom Crabtree

--
Tom Crabtree tcrabtre at ednet1.osl.or.gov
1667 NW Iowa Home (503) 388-2462
Bend, OR 97701 Work (503) 389-7723
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