Baby Dark-Eyed Juncos

Dark-eyed juncos breed all over the East Bay. Almost surely they are in San Francisco too, but not anywhere visible from my office because they spend most of their time much lower down. Right now, lots of juncos have fledglings.

I saw a family this morning while running. The babies scurry around on the ground begging their parents for food. They make this noise that sounds a little bit like an old VW Beetle. Listen for it and you will see them.

They are small, and the parents have dark heads as if they are wearing hoods. The parents have white outer tail feathers, too. On the fledglings' stumpier tails these feathers are much more prominent and their whole tails look white.

Only soaring gulls from the office today, though.