GRAY BIRDS SEEN IN NORTH AMERICA

Yellow-Eyed Junco

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Junco Phaeonotus

Yellow-eyed Junco

Adults are gray overall with paler underparts, rusty back and bright yellow eyes.

There is a black line that runs through the yellow eye to the bill. They have white outer tail feathers that flashes in flight.

Juveniles are grayish overall with a rusty back and dark streaks above and below.

BILL: two-toned bill, dark on top and pale below, short and conical.

SIZE: measures about 5.5 - 6.3 inches in length, with a wingspan of 9.4 - 9.8 inches.

WEIGHT: weighs about 16 - 23 grams.

COLOR: gray, rust, white and black.

Seeds, insects, and spiders on the ground and in trees and shrubs.

Higher-elevation conifer or mixed forest lands, also around human settlements near these habitats.

Mexico, extending into some of the mountains of the southern tips of the U.S. states of Arizona and New Mexico.

CALL: A metallic chip and a high- pitched seep year-round. Flocks give a quiet twitter with their bills closed, in winter.

SONG: A fast trill that starts with clear, evenly pitched notes followed by more of a slurred or buzzy trill. The males sing a 2–3 parted trill from high perches in conifer trees during the breeding season.

NEST: The female shape a hollow on the ground with its bill and feet and builds a bulky cup-shaped nest from grasses, pine needles and moss. It is lined with finer grasses and hair.

EGGS: 3 - 5 grayish-white to pale bluish eggs with tiny reddish speckling.

INCUBATION: 12 - 15 days.

NESTLING PHASE: 10 - 13 days.