"Slate-colored" Dark-eyed Juncos very rarely can show white wingbars, so 4 juncos together at my feeder this week in James City County showing wingbars was a noteworthy event.
The top 3 photos show the same bird white wingbars on both greater and median coverts, some pale edging on tertials and overall pale gray plumage with contrasting dark loral area that's most evident in the 3rd photo down. In the images with the bill closed, the bill appears larger than those of the other juncos.
The 4th photo down shows another with 2 wingbars, but is a different bird from the other with 2 wingbars, due to its weaker wingbars, presence of a large amount of brown in the primaries, a pale brown back and crown and interestingly, a more convex-appearing gray border on the lower breast, with even darker markings below a slightly paler throat. "Oregon" Dark-eyed Juncos show a more convex lower border there as well, often with very dark shades.
The 5th photo down shows a bird with several white tips to just the greater coverts and white edging to the tertials, overall pale gray plumage with a darker loral area and faintly streaked brownish back.
The 6th photo down is of a very striking bird with a dark-streaked brown back contrasting with blue-gray head, whitish tertial edges and a broad white wingbar on the greater coverts.
The "White-winged" sub-species of Dark-eyed out west looks very similar to the birds shown here, as seen in many eBird reports from Colorado...some show bolder wingbars, others quite faint and there's variable bill color. Photo images change, of course, with different lighting, including bright snowy backgrounds, making the gray tones appear variable. Some show grayer bills, others pinkish. There are 3 white outer tail feathers in "White-winged" and usually just 2 in "Slate-colored," a feature which can't easily be checked unless the bird is in-hand or there's a very lucky photo.
"White-winged" can stray eastward, as 2 were banded and examined closely for tail feathers and other features on Oct 24, 2020 in Pennsylvania, as seen in eBird.
Comments welcome at taberzz@aol.com.
Brian Taber
