Dark-Eyed Juncos

When I first started putting out cockatiel seed for the outdoor birds to eat, this little bird would join the sparrows.  I could not identify him for the longest time because the vast majority of dark-eyed juncos are grey with white breasts (Slate-colored juncos).  But finally, I realized that he was a dark-eyed junco.  There are 15 different races of dark-eyed juncos and we have the Oregon variety.  They're remarkably abundant during the spring and summer.  Other than at feeders, I always see them on the forest floor.

You can see with the junco on the left that they have lovely silver tail feathers.

The picture below is probably a female dark-eyed junco.  The females are lighter in color.  She was so obliging, just sitting there singing while I snapped pictures.

I tweaked this photo in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.  The junco was only a few feet away from us and I was using a long lens, so I needed the software to make the picture clearer and the leaves brighter. 

Here is a close up of the junco.

They disappear for the winter.  I will really miss them so I'm soaking up the juncos right now.