January 25, 2026: Dark-eyed Junco

One of our delinquent birds mentioned last week appeared after this week's snowfall:  the dark-eyed junco.

Juncos are one of our most common and wide-spread species, ranging from New Mexico to Alaska to northeastern Canada, and they are winter specialists, earning the nickname "snowbird".  They're present in New Hampshire year-round, though in the warmer months they stay hidden on the forest floor and at high elevations.  Juncos have some similarities to finches, particularly their beaks, but they're in the New World Sparrow family as they forage mostly on the ground, hopping around on two feet, to collect small seeds which they crack open with their beak using their tongue to maneuver the seed as needed.

They do good job cleaning up the deck, though they aren't very neat diners. 

Searching the snow for dropped millet.

Here's a short video of one cracking a small seed and dropping the shell:

In central New Hampshire, we see juncos mostly in winter after snow has covered much of their food supply, so they come to glean food under the bird feeders.  Here, nuthatches are their best friends.  The White-breasted Nuthatches in particular do much for the juncos as they shovel piles of small seeds from the feeder onto the ground while mining for the biggest nugget in the seed mix.

"This one will do."

We received a few inches of snow this past week which got me out on the skis for a short trip along the lake and up to the White Mountain Ledge.  Snow caught in a tree on the shoreline with a bright blue sky behind caught my eye and helped me notice one of the natural sources of food for juncos in deep winter:  Yellow Birch seeds.

Catkins on a Yellow Birch Tree.

These seeds aren't a staple of the juncos' diet because they don't pack a lot of nutrients, but they stay on the branches above the snow cover and they're better than nothing, becoming a factor in winter survival.  Hemlock cones, which also stay on their branches into winter, and which we saw the red squirrels dining on last week, are another source of winter food for juncos and other birds.

Heading into the woods for the ledges behind Lake Wicwas, I found a winter wonderland of snow-draped forest.

The January thaw is over.  Now we're heading into the deep freeze - yesterday's high at the Lake Wicwas Weather Station was 6.6 degrees F.  Along with much of the country, a polar vortex is sending New Hampshire a blast of cold air down from the north.  And it will usher in a good snowfall, beginning this afternoon.  We may get over a foot of light fluffy snow which is a whole lot better than the severe hit of wet heavy snow and freezing rain the storm may bring to areas south of New England.  With a long stretch of cold weather to follow, there may be some longer power outages in parts of the country, which makes a foot of dry snow look pretty good!

Looking north from the White Mountain Ledge.

Keep safe and warm this week, and don't forget about Pond Hockey on Meredith Bay next weekend.