On the 20th December 2009 along the Lido promenade in Funchal Catarina & Hugo, from Madeira Wind Birds recorded what is called a LBJ, i.e. a Little Brown Job which turned out to be, most probably, a Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis. We asked for some help on the identification of the bird to some world experienced birdwatchers and we got 2 answers for the same species: a juvenile female Dark-eyed Junco or an adult female Slate-colored Junco which is a subspecies of the Dark-eyed most widespread in eastern North America. So, it is most certainly a female Dark-eyed Junco though we still need to confirm its age and state nationality!
Unfortunately we did not have any photo camera with us but we did have a video one as we were there to film the waves beating the rocks and damaging the Lido swimming pool. So here is the video
On the 5th November 2009 Azores had its first record of a Dark-eyed Junco, a male, in Flores island, so this will not be the 1st record for Portugal but probably the 2nd one.
Let us know your feedback on this sighting!
Final decision: We would like to thank all birdwatchers who comment and gave their opinion on this bird ID and, as we are democratic, the final decision for this species is an Hybrid between a Canary and something else, so this sighting was not accepted by our web and friends expert's community!
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