[mou] 'Cassiar" Juncos, Nokomis area

[Robert Ellis]

I am having a few 'Cassiar' Juncos mingling with my Slate-coloreds browsing below my feeders east of Lake Nokomis.  Thie race of Junco is apprently an intermediate between the our typical Slate-colored variety and the more western Pink-sided and Oregon types.  The females are showing brown, not pink, sides and the male I've spotted has an ever so darker, but noticeably contrasting, gray head than the rest of his body.  Neither showed the more marked contrast and much darker head/brown body combination of a typical Oregon.  The link http://www.oceanwanderers.com/JuncoID.html has a good write-up on this subgroup and how to tell them from what is typically seen at each extreme.  The Sibley guide shows a male and female of each on the bottom of page 501 and describes them as a distinct group but does not use the Cassiar name.

The seem to be regular visitors at this point, if anyone is interest Viewing might be possible if I am home (wooden fence around the yard).  I also have some dark pics digibinned through a dirty window if anyone is interested.

-Bob Ellis, Minneapolis, Hennepin Co.
ellisbob at comcast.net

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