[cobirds] "White-winged" Junco--Bluff Lake Denver Co

Hi:

At the western end of Bluff Lake was a nice congregation of four different populations of the Dark-eyed Junco, the "Oregon," "Pink-side," Slate-colored" and pecking close by to the Slate-colored was a paler, grey junco with distinctive white wing bars, a beautiful representation of the "White-winged" Junco, Junco hyemalis aikeni.

This race of the Dark-eyed Junco was first collected by Charles Aiken near Fountain, Colorado in the late 1800s. Aiken was the collection manager at Colorado College, His collection of birds was later transferred to the museum at the University of Colorado where, in part, it still resides. Aiken was a pioneer naturalist-ornithologist. His collection formed  the foundational building blocks for describing the status and distribution for Colorado birds. Aiken is given credit for adding 84 new bird species to our state's bird list.

Let's tip one for Aiken

Bob Righter

Denver Colorado