Research Report #42 — Slate-colored Junco Studies at Mohonk
For many years scientists and naturalists have been studying and observing the flora and fauna of the Shawangunk Ridge. Foremost among them was Daniel Smiley, for whom Mohonk Preserve’s Daniel Smiley Research Center is named. Dan wrote numerous reports summarizing his observations on various topics. This regularly occurring series will feature some of these reports; some hold tremendous scientific value today and just await an interested researcher to follow up, others showcase a quirky sense of humor or highlight an oddity of nature.
Read the Report: Slate-colored Junco Studies at Mohonk. 31 December 1976. Daniel Smiley.
A Note from Paul C. Huth, Director of Research Emeritus:
For those of us who have spent most of our lives close to the land, or have spent time recreating in our favorite spots on lands like the Mohonk Preserve, we have come to know and appreciate seasonal variations. This can be in the form of major annual changes like spring rebirth and fall senescence of vegetation to the wonder of bird migration.
At Mohonk, naturalists Dan and Keith Smiley lived their whole lives close to the land and became detailed natural and cultural observers and detailed documentarians. As Dr. Larry E. Burgess wrote about Dan in 1996, “From his early years and throughout his life, Mohonk served as the laboratory for Dan’s study of nature, ecological relationships, and human history of the area.” The first bird migration observations which Dan and Keith helped to record, date from 1925, taken as part of a class project when they attended the Mohonk School. Field trips to Duck Pond between 24 and 27 June 1927, generated a list of 18 species of birds. I like to think of the brothers who over their lives seasonally and annually visited the same ridge wide locations with enthusiasm and expectation, developed a strong sense of place. In similar fashion to Naturalist John Burroughs, who said “To learn something new, take the path that you took yesterday.”
From the some 80 years of bird records at the Daniel Smiley Research Center, a “Checklist of Birds of the Northern Shawangunk Mountains” was compiled. It lists over 200 species of birds that “live or spend time in the Shawangunks.” From this compilation, it is interesting to look at the diversity of species, like those that are year-round residents, those that are strict migrators like the “vireos and wood warblers,” some that are usually only seen passing through during spring and fall migration, those which we might only see in late fall, winter, or early spring, and those species which breed regularly here on the ridge. For careful continuous observers, we can also detect subtle seasonal variations in numbers of the some 78 year-round resident species. Of the latter, two species stand out-the Blue Jay (see Research Report #37), and the Dark-eyed or Slate-colored Junco.
The Dark-eyed Junco, Junco hyemalis, is a member of the family Passerellidae with other American sparrows. The old name for the species, the “Snow Bird,” goes back to the 18th-century work of naturalist Mark Catesby, who saw the species only appear in winter in the South, and mostly with snow. In 1844, James E. De Kay included the “Snow-bird” in Part II- Birds, of his pioneering study, the Zoology of New York, or the New York Fauna. He reports, “The Snow-bird occurs in this State at all seasons of the year.” In 1882, Eugene P. Bicknell, in “A Review of the Summer Birds of a Part of The Catskills Mountains,” included the “Slate-colored Snowbird,” as “this species may be considered the most universally distributed bird of the Catskills.”
In this 1976 Research Report, Dan summarized his nearly 50 years of interest in the Junco, and what constituted the seasonally variable Shawangunk population. If it is “present as a species all year….Is there a continuously resident population of juncos at Mohonk, or does its year-round presence represent summer residents, winter residents and migrants?” In trying to get at the answer beginning in the late 1920s, Dan and brother Keith employed the relatively new scientific procedure of banding birds.
Bird banding was “introduced to the American Ornithologists Union in November 1908.” In 1909, A.O.U. formed the American Bird Banding Association, and in 1922, it formed the Inland Bird Banding Association. The Eastern Bird Banding Association was formed in 1923 by the Linnaean Society of New York. Banding consists of applying a lightweight species-sized aluminum or plastic leg band on birds which permanently identifies the individual bird. Bands can be applied on young nestlings or on carefully caught adults. Once released, the bird carries that identification wherever it goes. Today, all banders must have a Federal Bird Banding and Marking Permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Dan maintained his active permit, №4039, for 60 years.
In his Research Report, Dan noted that he and brother Keith “initiated banding at Mohonk in 1928,” with “various interruptions (between 1935 and 1955).” After The Mohonk Trust was founded in 1963, “these (Junco) studies are again receiving attention as one of The Mohonk Trust research projects.” In the later years, Trust staff and volunteers assisted with the banding.
Dan reports that for the period of 48 years, 1928 through 1976, a remarkable 5,866 Juncos were captured and banded under his banding permit. There were 471 “returns” (8%), birds that were “retaken after 3 months without intervening handlings,” and 14 “recoveries,” birds that “were banded at Mohonk and retaken elsewhere, or were banded elsewhere and recaptured at Mohonk.” In December 1975, color banding was added to the Junco study. This was a part of the Junco studies that allowed for individual bird identification and observation of seasonal movement from the banding source. For example, one Junco that was individually color banded, was “recognized 22 times” over the next two years, but only during the winter at local bird feeders, and was not seen during the intervening summer.
From long-term direct observations and the detailed banding records, Dan determined that the extremes of seasonal Junco migration at Mohonk occurred between “March 10 to April 30,” and “September 1 to November 20.” “Hence, Winter Residents (would be from) November 21 to March 9, (and) Summer Residents (would be from) May 1 to August 31.” Dan then considered “that for a Junco to be considered a permanent resident its banding and return handlings would have to span a migration and be ‘winter resident’ to ‘summer resident’ or ‘summer resident’ to ‘winter resident.’ Of the 451 Junco banding returns studied (through 1975), Dan found that 22 were “year-round birds.”
Also of interest from the banding record, were as Dan called them, the “Travels of Mohonk Juncos.” Seven birds banded at Mohonk were captured elsewhere, and five birds banded elsewhere were caught and recorded at Mohonk. In summary, Dan concluded that “these indicate a rather narrow band of movement, mostly to the southeast of a northeast-southwest line through Mohonk. In other words, they travel east of the Alleghenys.” Of interest, one April 1933 Mohonk-banded Junco was recovered the following December, 900 miles away in Kelleyton, Alabama. Another banded at Mohonk in April 1958 was recovered 33 days later in Plaster Rock, New Brunswick, Canada, 500 miles away. This Junco enabled Dan to calculate a migration “flight speed of at least 15 miles per day for over a month.” Of the five Juncos recovered at Mohonk that had been banded elsewhere, one banded in Elkton, Maryland, in December 1960, was recovered at Mohonk by Dan the first time 2 3/4 years later, traveling some 170 straight line miles. It was subsequently recaptured by Dan two months later, but of particular interest, was recaptured again by Dan some 16 months later, 4 1/2 years after it had been first banded in Maryland!
Read the Report: Slate-colored Junco Studies at Mohonk. 31 December 1976. Daniel Smiley.
Edits: A previous version misidentified the Dark-eyed Junco’s taxonomic family. The article was corrected on December 9, 2019.
