Hi,

Mike Watson, of the Holden Arboretum, and I, are conducting research to
determine if our Ohio breeding Dark-eyed Junco population is migratory or
are year round residents.  During the past breeding season we banded ten
territorial males with both federal and color bands, in four locations.
Three of these locations are on Holden property and the fourth was in my
yard on Gildersleeve Mountain in Kirtland.

Now that the migrant population is well established we have begun our non
breeding season observation efforts, per our research protocol.  Since the
beginning of December we have found three of our banded birds in three
locations.  We have gotten good documentary photos of two of these
individuals.

While it is exciting to have these preliminary positive findings it is too
early to draw conclusions. We will be banding and collecting data for a
planned 5 years, to insure our data are reliable and repeatable. In the
coming breeding season we hope to band females and fledgling birds in
addition to territorial males.  This will help to further define the scope
of the resident population if it is indeed resident for multiple years.

The Ohio breeding population of Dark-eyed Juncos has exploded in the past
25 years as documented in the Ohio Breeding Bird Atlas I and II data.
Breeding populations seem to be restricted to Ashtabula, eastern Cuyahoga,
Geauga, Lake, Portage and northern Summit counties.  Breeding habitat is no
longer confined to hemlock hardwood forests or ravines and ledges. It now
is far more widespread and nesting Juncos have habituated to human
presence. There are numerous reports of them using hanging plants as nest
sites in southern Geauga county, and they are well established nesters in
some sub-urban neighborhoods.

As our field work continues we are learning more and more about these
interesting little birds. It has been interesting to see the boundaries of
territories and that the birds who were territorial over the summer still
respond to territorial songs now that we are half a year removed from when
we netted and banded them.

Haans

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