Junco hyemalis
Silhouette: L. Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week ~90%
The dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis) is a species of junco, a group of small, grayish New World sparrows. The species is common across much of temperate North America and in summer it ranges far into the Arctic. It is a variable species, much like the related fox sparrow (Passerella iliaca), and its systematics are still not completely resolved.
The dark-eyed junco was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Fringilla hyemalis. The description consisted merely of the laconic remark "F[ringilla] nigra, ventre albo. ("A black 'finch' with white belly") and a statement that it came from America. Linnaeus based his description on the "Snow-Bird" that Mark Catesby had described and illustrated in his 1731 The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands.
The Bill of this Bird is white: The Breast and Belly white. All the rest of the Body dark grey; but in some places black, inclining to Lead-color. In Virginia and Carolina they appear only in Winter: and in Snow they appear most. In Summer none are seen. Whether they retire and breed in the North (which is most probable) or where they... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Edmonton | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Salt Lake City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 9 | Anchorage | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Detroit | 🇺🇸 United States |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Dark-eyed Junco sighting in Chicago on a given day, based on 26,111 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 20th most-seen of the 314 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Dark-eyed Junco in Chicago on a given day, against under 5% in May to August, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Dark-eyed Junco sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
11th of 30
Of the 30 cities where we can rate Dark-eyed Junco sightings, Chicago ranks 11th at about 30%. The best odds are in Seattle (United States, about 80%), Portland (United States, about 70%) and Vancouver (Canada, about 50%).
Same family: Passerellidae
The closest relatives of the Dark-eyed Junco that you can see in Chicago (family Passerellidae, New World Sparrows) are Song Sparrow (about 40%), White-throated Sparrow (about 30%) and White-crowned Sparrow (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Dark-eyed Junco is recorded against all the birds logged in Chicago (26,111 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
