Episode 30: Dark-Eyed Junco – Voice of the Wild

This is Illinois Extension’s Voice of the Wild. A new wild voice in just a moment, so find someplace quiet, take a deep breath, and enjoy.

Brisk winds and turning leaves bring flocks of little stone-gray birds. They’re fleeing to the midwest winter - it's a paradise, if only compared to the chill of the arctic forests where they spent their summer. They’ll flash the white edges of their tails as they forage through neighborhoods, cemeteries, and winter woodlands in flocks large and small. Look for their little pale bill as they pick beneath birdfeeders or, after a good snow, along the side of the road after the plow has come through.

This is the dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis) from the family of new-world sparrows, Passerellidae. The Junco gives a variety of calls and other non-song vocalizations, they range from a strong chuck to metallic tinkling and complex kiss-like squeaks. These are all commonly heard through the fall and winter. A little less common in this time period is their song, a loose musical trill, listen for that vocalization on warm, late winter afternoons that promise spring’s return. Here’s the junco again.

Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab for the Junco’s song and Matt Wistrand on xeno-canto.org for the various juncos calls. You can find a link to those in the description. And thank you for tuning in to learn a new wild voice with Illinois Extension.