This aberrant plumage of Dark-eyed Junco, with white markings on the
head to produce a chickadee-like pattern, is comparable to the
aberrant male Red-winged Blackbird plumage that was discussed a few
weeks ago. It must be a mutation firmly embedded in the genome of
juncos, as I've seen several birds like this in nature and in museum
collections. It's a good approach to think that when a bird looks
mostly like a junco and is in a flock of juncos, it's probably a
junco! ;-)

Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382

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