Subject: Re: "Pink-sided" Junco
Date: Oct 22 23:16:16 1997
From: "Jon. Anderson and Marty Chaney" - festuca at olywa.net


Gene Hunn wrote:
. "Anybody out there have a reliable identification routine?"

Hi folks,

I, like Russell Rogers, have handled a number of juncos - up close and in the hand. I long ago
quit trying to determine junco subspecies here in Cascadia. I've picked up one 'slate-colored'
junco (presumably J.h. cismontanus or J.h. hyemalis? hyemalis is supposed to breed in west-
central B.C., and cismontanus is supposed to nest in central interior B.C., according to my
Byers et al.; both have been recorded as appearing in "Western North America" in the winter).

Another individual that I'd banded had grey, instead of pinkish-cinnamon, sides, but was
otherwise identical to the rest of the shufeldti (?) juncos I get in the winter... I wonder what
kind of junco *that* one was?

I had the opportunity this past year to view the juncos in the Slater museum, thanks to the kind offices of Dennis Paulson. I was forming some ideas about my own abilities to distinguish male
from female juncos during my winter banding. From my short perusal of the specimens, it
appeared to me that I could tell the males *only* if they had BLACK heads and breast feathering;
if the hood were "greyish-black" or "blackish-grey", a surprising number of birds that I might
have called males had been identified as females during preparation of the specimen!! The
grey-hooded birds ranged from very dark grey to very light grey, and I was unconvinced (after
looking at the specimens) that I could distinguish sex of a bird with any shade of grey (rather
than black) hoods.

A number of birds in here in my west Olympia yard each winter have the lighter grey or greyish-
black hood and pinkish-cinnamon sides that seem to be illustrated in some of the guides as
'pink-sided'. In fact, I have birds in my yard today that seem identical to the mearnsi illustration
in this volume! But, I doubt that I get dozens of Pink-sided juncos here! I have never seen a
decent illustration of all the seveal races of "Oregon" junco, with good comparative descriptions,
and would welcome a citation.

For the "Oregon" Junco races, Byers, Curson and Olsson (1995) illustrate only J.h.oreganus
(adult male and female) and adult male mearnsi, and list:

"J.h. oreganus (Breeds on the Pacific coast from SE Alaska south to C British Columbia; winters
in the breeding range and south along the coast to C California and casually inland west of the
Rockies) Very different to typical Slate-coloured; male has blackish hood, rufous-brown mantle
and scapulars, grey rump, pinkish-cinnamon flanks; females are duller. Note that the hood does
not extend onto the flanks as it does in the Slate-coloured races.

"J.h. shufeldti (Breeds on the western slopes of the coastal mountain ranges from SW British
Columbia south to C Oregon, intergrading with oreganus on Vancouver Island and with thurberi
in C Oregon. It winters in the breeding range and sparsely further south and east) Very similar
to oreganus but averages duller, with a greyer-brown mantle and paler, blackish-grey hood.

"J.h. montanus (Breeds from central interior British Columbia and SW Alberta south to Idaho;
winters throughout W North America south to N Chihuahua) Very similar to shufeldti but the
wings and tail average shorter.

"J.h. mearnsi (Oregon Pink-sided Junco) (Breeds from SE Alberta and SW Saskatchewan
south to E Idaho and NW Wyoming; winters from just south of the breeding range south to NW
Mexico) Similar to shufeldti but has a paler grey hood and paler, more pinkish sides.

"J.h. thurberi (Breeds from S Oregon south to S California, intergrading with pinosus in the San
Francisco area and with mutabilis in SW California) Basically sedentary but moves to lower
elevations in winter; some also move slightly south and south-east. Very similar to mearnsi but
has a slightly darker hood on average (it is intermediate between Oregon and Oregon Pink-sided
forms).

"J.h. pinosus (Resident in the coastal ranges of C California) Very similar to thurberi but has a
slightly paler grey hood on average, tending towards mearnsi.

"J.h. pontilis (Resident in the Sierra Juarez of extreme N Baja California) Roughly intermediate
between thurberi and townsendi, but tends to have pale pinkish sides like townsendi (paler than
thurberi)

"J.h. townsendi (Resident in the Sierra San Pedro Martir of N Baja California but some move to
lower elevations in winter) Similar to mearnsi put the pale pink sides are narrower on average.

"J.h. mutabilis (Occurs in the mountains of S Nevada and SE California) Intermediate between
the Oregon and Grey-headed groups, resembling thurberi (the adjacent race to the north) in
having a dark (grey, not blackish) hood, and caniceps in its (duller) rufous mantle; it differs from
both these races in its pinkish sides. Sexes are similar, but female averages slightly paler and
duller."

The authors also give descriptions of 3 races of Slate-colored, 2 races of Grey-headed, and
the White-winged Junco, and split the Guadalupe Junco (J. (hyemalis) insularis) off as a
separate species. The Guadalupe junco is endemic to Isla Guadalupe off Baja, and is described
as "Similar to Oregon form of Dark-eyed Junco but considerably duller and darker with longer
bill and shorter wings and tail; head dark grey with black lores, mantle dull olive-brown,
contrasting only slightly with head and with grey rump. Throat and upper breast paler grey than
head but still forming a noticeable hood; rest of underparts buffy-white with pinkish-buff sides."

In short, I think I'll limit my identification of "Pink-sided" junco to those I saw on the east slope of
the northern U.S. Rocky Mountains...... I'm just not good enough to distinguish "very similar, but
somewhat lighter grey hood and somewhat more pink-sided" birds through my 10-powers....
or, in the hand! :-)

Hope this helps.

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net