Junco (Dark-eyed)

A widespread and common small sparrow, the Dark-eyed Junco is most familiar as a winter visitor. They will visit bird feeders, but mostly forage on the ground beneath the feeding tray. They prefer open woods, undergrowth, roadsides and brush. Their summer diet is mostly insects and their young are fed almost entirely on insects

Juncos come in several distinctly different looking forms, but all are readily identified as "juncos" by their plain patterning, dark hood, and white under tail feathers. This bird may also be referred to as a “Slate-coloured Junco”

The nest is almost always on the ground, well hidden under overhanging grass or trees. It is built mostly by the female, and is an open cup of grass, weeds, and leaves, lined with fine grass and sometimes hair and feathers.

 

Photographed in the wild, Etobicoke, ON