Junco hyemalis
These little birds are here all summer but show up at the house a lot in the fall and early spring for seeds. I saw them two summers ago nesting in the rocks at Ruggles Mine. They are a chattering group of birds! We seem to call them northern juncos here but the books often call them dark-eyed juncos.
Photographed in Barton, Vermont in October of 2010.
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I never saw these juncos all winter. But they have been here for two weeks now in a large flock. Peterson's Eastern Birds Field Guide groups these Northern Juncos (also called slate-colored juncos) with snowbirds. Their range is the "cool forests of Alaska, Canada; south in eastern mountains to northern Georgia." That is a large range so I am not sure why they are called snowbirds. When clicked, these photos will open, full size, in a new window.
ABC Wednesday