WV, USA - Where did the Juncos go? (1 Viewer)

We have Dark-Eyed Juncos here in the winter. In fact, I have never seen so many as in this winter. They sure do seem to love the snow! We had snow cover here for six or more straight weeks, very unusual for this area. My question is: Is late February too early for them to start migrating north? We had 15 inches of snowfall on February 13th, and, as usual, there were many Juncos on the suet feeders and grazing under it. But after most of the snow was melted, I hardly saw any Juncos. Since that time, I have seen a couple of Juncos, but nowhere near the dozen or so that I used to see during a single viewing. Here is a picture I took on February 15th when there was still plenty of snow on the ground. The bird at the top is a Sparrow, but the rest are Juncos.

I'm not sure about the timing of junco migration in your area, but I think I recall that males and females move at different times, so that could explain the decrease without them totally disappearing. However, we'll need someone else with more time or experience to say more. (I think that e-bird will give some kinds of data related to this question.)

I don't know the situation in W. Virginia, but here in Southern Ontario, "new" juncoes start appearing from the south in March, and they really get going in the first half of April. (We have lots of over-wintering visitors as well, but through banding operations, we can tell that some of the March/April birds are new arrivals.) So, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the ones in the S-E U.S. are starting to move out now. I believe they are cued by the increase in day length, and are only secondarily influenced by weather.

Thanks so much, Gretchen and Peter. I was so excited when our snow melted, but the downside was that the Juncos were gone. Peter, that is good information that your newly arriving Juncos start appearing in southern Ontario during March. It could well mean that my Juncos are currently in transit to their summer grounds! This afternoon I put up one of my homemade peanut butter suet cakes, so we shall see if any of the missing birds reappear.

Gretchen, thanks again! I might guess that the male Juncos have moved on, leaving the females behind. I have seen a few Juncos in the past few days, but they so timid that I have not been able to photograph them. When I had a whole flock of Juncos, they were easy to photograph. I am thinking that the females tend to be more skittish, flying away soon after they see me. We are expecting some snow on Monday, so it will be interesting to see if the Juncos reappear in previous numbers, but if migration has already started, I am not expecting to see many.

I'm also from West Virginia and the conditions at my feeder are probably about the same as yours. What I've noticed at my feeder is that when we have fresh snow, or just deep snow, there seems to be a lot more birds of all species, but especially the juncos. On Thursday, after it had snowed for two days, I had over 40 juncos and increased numbers of other birds. Today, however, with warm weather and melting snow, I've counted only 14 juncos.

I think what happens is that as the snow melts, the birds are able to scatter and find more natural sources of food, and aren't therefore so dependent on what we put out for them. However, when snow covers all the natural food sources, then they come back to the feeders where the pickings are easier.

By the way, not all of the juncos that winter in the lower elevations of West Virginia migrate to the north. Some just go into the high mountains where they breed.

Dave

Thanks, Dave, very insightful! It makes sense about some Juncos not going north because the climate in Garrett County (Western Maryland) is very much like the climate in New England or even southern Canada. So instead, the birds may be going west, or a little northwest. You've confirmed something I've suspected for a long time.

Here in eastern PA the juncos start to mass in early April and disappear soon after that. But they breed just north of here. In fact some of them breed in NE PA, so we are probably at the tail end of the north-bound migration.

Thanks, Jeff. I know that NE PA has a colder climate than more southerly parts of the state. There are areas to the west of where I live that are also colder than here, such as Garrett County in far western Maryland and also the Morgantown, WV area. We got about an inch of snow last night (we were lucky!), so today I am seeing a few Juncos at the feeder, but not as many as a couple of weeks ago. When our last snow melted, many of the Juncos may have relocated to the more westerly, snowier areas. Here is a pic I took this morning.