Monday, April 6, 2009

What's this bird?



Yesterday I took a quick backyard portrait of a bird I didn't recognize. It's bigger than a sparrow and slightly smaller than a robin, with a dark gray back and head and white belly and underbutt. My bird book suggests that it's a Slate-colored Junco, whose range does embrace the Midwest, but I can't tell for sure. Can any birders out there confirm my guess? Click on the photo for a larger version.

3 comments:

  1. It is a junco, all right. The pinkish beak is a giveaway for most variations of dark-eyed junco. (Slate-colored is a variant of dark-eyed.)

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  2. 2nd the junco. but where's his junco partner?

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  3. Kate, thanks, and also Eric. But what do you mean, junco partner? Do they go in pairs, like Bonnie and Clyde? Or is that a pun of some kind I am too dense to get?

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