5/25/24 Need help ID birds from Alum Rock State Park, San Jose, CA, USA (1 Viewer)

[Valefor]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone knows the sex of this Dark Eye Junco? Typically the males I seen have a darker color head than this. At the same time, this Junco's hue is darker compare to a female's head. In another thread, someone may have suspected it was an Oregon Dark Eye Junco subspecies, but wasn't sure.

Does anyone know if that is the correct subspecies and what sex it is? Thanks

 

[ebo2112]

Last time I asked a Junco question I got the following wonderful (but daunting -to me) reply from @AveryBartels here in this forum. It sums up the rabbit hole junco id can become.
Good luck.

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Per Birdsoftheworld: cismontanus and mearnsi are both subspecies. Cismontanus is in the "Slate-colored" group and mearnsion the "Oregon" group.

Identifying cismontanus (especially females such as your bird) away from their breeding grounds is notoriously tricky. I don't have any experience of mearnsi so can't comment on that. It takes a serious commitment to learn the subtleties of Dark-eyed Junco subspecies ID so for any but the most keen, simply avoiding using subspecies designations in eBird is the best (and recommended by eBird) route.

 

[rkj]

It is is a Dark-eyed Junco of the Oregon form, Junco hymalis oreganus. This is the form that would be expected in the San Jose area at this time of year. Looks like a normal adult female to me.

 

[Brad Hacker]

The most-useful N American sparrow books are Sparrows of the United States and Canada: A Photographic Guide and A Guide to Identification and the Natural History of the Sparrows of the United States and Canada. Both are outstanding. If you are deeply interested in sparrows, they are must haves.

 

[Valefor]

Thank you everyone!