Re: [cobirds] Where do Dark-eyed Juncos spend cold nights (Arapahoe)?

They hang out in my hen house along with various other sparrows and finches. There is a gap above the door which allows them to come and go. Between the heat from the hens and the heat lamp, which I have going right now, they are nice and warm. I haven't seen them eating the chicken feed, but they are swarming my feeders right now. They have learned that there isn't much seed on the ground from the feeders right now.

I watched one yesterday, figure out how to get to the seed in the feeders. It stood around the deck railing, then made several attempts to land on the feeder's perch, missing it a few times, then finally making it. Now, I have five or six constantly eating from the thistle seed feeder, and a couple others from the regular feeder. The only other visitors right now are the Chickadees. I think that the house finches are content to stay in the warm hen house and eat the chicken feed.

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From: cobirds@googlegroups.com <cobirds@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jared Del Rosso <jared.delrosso@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, January 15, 2024 8:39 AM
To: Colorado Birds <cobirds@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [cobirds] Where do Dark-eyed Juncos spend cold nights (Arapahoe)?

 

I'm pretty sure at least one Dark-eyed Junco spends the night within the frame of an outdoor lounge-type chair. It (the frame) has a large opening, out of which a junco has emerged the last two mornings. There's a perch-like rod that runs horizontally across the frame. There are bird droppings within the frame's empty space.

I also think juncos may be overnighting beneath my shed. I see junco-like footprints and bird droppings on the landscapes bricks that I placed around the edge of the shed, my lazy attempt to discourage raccoons and foxes from accessing the space beneath the shed, which has about 8 inches of space beneath it.

I've not yet noticed juncos within my (now empty) chicken coop. I'll keep an eye on that.

My yard is edged with a thicket of Nannyberry (Viburnum lentago) and chokecherries. There are other random, non-native landscaping plants mixed in. There's also a juniper, which has reseeded and created several small junipers. I've added some downed branches and the corpse of a few, small Christmas trees to the mix. The towhees seem to like staying within the mess of all of that. Seems like some juncos prefer more manufactured spaces.

- Jared Del Rosso

Centennial, CO

 

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