Summary
- Natural history: Although most Vermonters know the Dark-eyed Junco as a common backyard ‘snowbird’ in winter, the species is also the state’s highest-elevation nesting bird, breeding on open slopes anywhere from 500 feet up to the rocky, near-treeless summits above 4,000 feet. Some of the juncos that flock to feeders in winter are actually visitors from farther north in Canada, arriving as Vermont’s own mountain-breeding birds shift only modestly south or simply stay put year-round. Junco populations and distribution changed only slightly from the First Atlas to the Second Atlas, a stability that in nearby New York has been credited partly to forests regrowing on former farmland, likely a factor in Vermont too.
- Status in VT: Increased by 1% (138 to 139 blocks).
- Data from other research: FBMP: annual increase of 6.7%.
- Conservation status: State rank S5B; S5N
- Other atlases: NY: 23%; PA: 31%; MD: occupancy nearly doubled; ON: little change;
- VT’s role in North American range: VT is within the core of the range.
- Causes of change since first Atlas: Forest bird that has benefited from reforestation of formerly agricultural lands.
- Management/Monitoring recommendations: No specific recommendations.
First Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas (1976-1981)
Second Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas (2003 – 2007)
Change in Distribution
