Date: 4/18/25 5:45 pm From: Dorothy Anderson <andersondorothy72...> Subject: Re: [MASSBIRD] April 18, 205, Newton (NH): Did folks notice that a lot of juncos had departed, yesterday?
Also foy chipping sp
On Fri, Apr 18, 2025 at 7:31 PM Liz Pease <lizpease...> wrote:
> Still here today in Salisbury, though definitely in smaller numbers.
> Thanks for inspiring me to go take a close look Matt!
>
> Liz Pease
> <lizpease...>
> Salisbury MA
>
> On Fri, Apr 18, 2025 at 6:34 PM Dorothy Anderson <
> <andersondorothy72...> wrote:
>
>> Mine are still here and for the first time are taking seeds right out of
>> the feeder.
>> On Fri, Apr 18, 2025 at 5:05 PM Aimée Sands <amsproductions...>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> You’re right and I hadn’t noticed! The juncoes are suddenly gone! It
>>> seemed they were here for an exceptionally long time. And it does seem
>>> they left the day the white throated sparrow arrived here in JP.
>>> Aimée Sands
>>>
>>> On Apr 18, 2025, at 9:01 AM, Matt S. <accipiter22...> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>> We've had at least 10 juncos, give or take, in our yard all winter,
>>> sometimes much more. For the past six weeks or so they've been singing,
>>> and the past few weeks it's been a constant high-pitched trilling roar. It
>>> makes the yard more exciting, I think. Yesterday when I stepped outside I
>>> noticed a complete silence, accented by the fact that even the cardinals
>>> and various finches weren't singing either. I figured there was a predator
>>> nearby, as I went about my yard, some things called here or there, but no
>>> juncos. The absence of their song was loud, if that makes sense. The
>>> world seemed a little stiller without their song. I noticed a couple were
>>> still here, pursuing each other aggressively around the yard as they've
>>> been doing, but through the several hours I was outside I only noticed a
>>> couple bars of song from them. Anyone else have their yard juncos ride
>>> out on the warm air the last few days?
>>>
>>> I always enjoy juncos, when I was young and still learning about birds,
>>> I thought it was interesting that southward migration included birds that
>>> came south to New England for the winter. Juncos were a pretty easy ID,
>>> even for a kid, and a book I read said that Native American populations in
>>> the area called them snowbirds, since they usually portended winter. I
>>> would track how many weeks they arrived before first snow hit. I was
>>> equally excited by white-throated sparrows coming in, but I don't recall
>>> them in the kind of numbers we had juncos.
>>>
>>> Safe travels friends!
>>>
>>> Matt S
>>> Newton, NH
>>> <Accipiter22...>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
> --
> Liz Pease
> (she, her, hers)
>
>
