I must be a sap, too, because I always like to see the juncos in the fall.
They've been in my yard (near Pullman) for a couple weeks now. The
White-crowned Sparrows have gone from a flood to a trickle while the Juncos
have increased to (as of yesterday) about 20 (all Oregon, so far). I don't
have a feeder, so they usually decline to a steady-state of 4-8, about
evenly mixed between Oregon and Slate-colored, through the winter.

In evening, the juncos, House Sparrows, and one or two Song Sparrows can
usually be counted on to be poking around the gravel driveway. I suspect
they are all looking for a gravel nightcap to aid in digestion, but I see
the Juncos also clearly shelling little seeds. This year, I've let the
gravel driveway get rather weedy, and the juncos seem to be very happy about
that. Yesterday evening, there were still a couple of white-crowns in among
the juncos.

Kelly Cassidy
Pullman, WA