A pair of juncos has now declared my yard their space and I see them
together pretty much all the time now. This morning they had a bit of a run
in with the neighbors, Mr and Mrs Song sparrow. The juncos were up in the
crab apple when the neighbors stopped by and one of the Junco's, I assume
Mr., flew down directly in front of the sparrow couple. One took a short
hop flight backwards (Mrs?) while the other took two bold steps forward
right into the personal space of Mr. Junco. I held my breath wondering what
would ensue, and then finally had to breath as both birds stood, more or
less toe to toe and absolutely frozen for a good 60 seconds. Finally Mrs.
Junco, perhaps sensing the awkward moment between the guys, flew down just
behind her mate, and this allowed Mr. Song Sparrow to turn sideways, take a
step and begin poking around. Mr. Junco then flashed his white tail
feathers, turned the opposite way and began to forage as well. Within
another minute, all four were foraging in a small area, maybe a meter
square. After a couple of minutes they had separated a bit with each pair
close to their mate when a Towhee hopped in the middle of them from the
shrubbery. This was too much for both couples and they each flew in
separate directions while the towhee looked around. For the next hour there
was an interesting distribution pattern as the pairs of birds each foraged,
then would be interrupted by the towhee, who seemed to be asserting some
kind of dominance by flying near the foraging couples causing them to fly up
unto nearby perches. I had to leave for a field trip and I was
disappointed that none of the birds were around on my return. I look
forward to tomorrow morning.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer, Teacher
Snohomish County, WA