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Kamala Englin
Eureka, CA, United States
Just a dark-eyed junco with a few white spots.
I thought I was seeing things. We have a local junco in pur yard that is positively marbled with white spots! I will try to get a photo.
I have one in my yard too–with even more white patches than yours. I am calling it a leucistic coloring, meaning it has lost some melanin in it’s feathers. Not sure if that is correct so if anyone knows differently let me know.
Hi Karen, you are correct. The bird you are seeing is leucistic.
we have one in our yard in Libby, MT. White spots on face and back of neck.
Just saw one in my yard. Looked like a male and the top of head was pure white.
There is one that visits my feeder regularly – beautiful white marbling in the black hood and chestnut colored back. I live in North Albany Oregon.
I have a junco visiting my feeder in northern Kentucky that has white streaking on the left side of its head, and nearly solid white on the right. A red-winged blackbird with a white streaked crown and throat also visited my feeder today. Two oddities in one day!
We have a similar junco with white spots on his head and back.
Okay – just saw a bird – looked just like a junco but with a white patch on top of its head. I have never seen anything like it. Looked to see whether it could be a white-throated sparrow but not sure. Am waiting for it to reappear. So interesting that you have all seen similar birds. I live in Western Canada.
Hi Denise, Please review our Color Variants page – many species can exhibit Leucism – which is simply an abnormality in the way pigment is distributed in feathers, resulting in white patches. The bird may be normally colored in every other way, but have white patches on certain parts of their body. If it looks like a junco except for that patch, it’s likely a junco with leucism.
Just saw a “white-cheeked” junco in our back yard. It looks exactly like the dark-eyed juncos we have, except that it has a large white spot on each cheek. The spots are not random-looking but are symmetrical and there are no other white spots. Really unusual, trying to get a photo!
Just saw a white throated junco in my yard! Seattle, WA
1-5-22
I have a junco with one black dot on its chest.
I also have one here in Gibsons BC. Speckled head and back. Managed to get a photo!
The one I spotted ( heh,heh) in Manitoba Canada, had a very dark head & back, a white oval on the cap over the eyes, and two large black dots, on each side of it’s upper breast. Holly Faulkner explains in her reply above that it is “Leucism – which is simply an abnormality in the way pigment is distributed in feathers, resulting in white patches.”
So helpful – I’ve spotted a number of dark-eyed juncos with white marks/streaks/speckles on their heads this year in Issaquah, WA, and wondered what it was.
I was looking into this and found this thread. I just also spotted one. In Washington state, near Seattle. It had a lot of white on it. Never seen one before.
Just saw one here in NM. Cool!
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