Kingdom Animalia Order Passeriformes Genus Junco Higher classification Dark-eyed junco | Phylum Chordata Family Emberizidae Scientific name Junco hyemalis aikeni Rank Subspecies | |
Similar Bird, Junco, American Sparrows, Guadalupe junco, Passerine | ||
The white-winged junco (Junco hyemalis aikeni) is a subspecies of the dark-eyed junco. It is superficially similar to the slate-colored junco. It was formerly classified as a distinct species.
It is a common endemic breeder in the Black Hills area of South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Montana, and winters south along the Front Range to northeastern New Mexico.
J. h. aikeni resembles the slate-colored junco but is larger, lighter gray (the head plumage contrasting with the dark lores), has much more white in the tail, and has a larger, longer bill that often has a bluish cast. Females are paler and washed brownish. Most fresh (fall/winter) individuals have the white wingbars that give this taxon its common name, but this feature is not always present, especially in spring and summer on females as the white tips to the wing coverts easily wear off. About one slate-colored junco in 200 has wing bars as bold as those of a fresh white-winged junco. Therefore, using wingbars alone to identify a bird as a white-winged junco outside the breeding range is ill-advised; identifications must be based on all the relevant characteristics.