Dark-eyed Junco © audubon.org

Vagrant to Denmark, Gibraltar, Iceland, Ireland, Jamaica, Norway, Poland, Russia (Asian), United Kingdom, Virgin Islands (U.S.).

Molecular data indicate close relationship between this genus and Zonotrichia. Nominate subspecies has hybridized with White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis). Recent molecular-genetic studies suggest that genus spread quickly northern from Central America in post-glacial period. Although morphological divergence high, molecular divergence not so well marked. On the other hand, the farther southern in Central America, the older is the lineage, and the more distinctly characterized it is molecularly. Taxonomy of present species complex; subspecies molecularly very close to each other, and more closely allied to northern subspecies of Yellow-eyed Junco (Junco phaeonotus) than to southern populations of latter. Southern subspecies of present species very similar morphologically to Yellow-eyed Junco (Junco phaeonotus), and unpublished molecular data suggest that Guadalupe subspecies insularis may be better placed with that species. Subspecies form six groups: "hyemalis group" (nominate, carolinensis, cismontanus), "oreganus group" (oreganus, shufeldti, montanus, thurberi, pinosus, pontilis, townsendi), "caniceps group" (caniceps, dorsalis, mutabilis), and three single-subspecies groups, i.e. "aikeni group", "insularis group" and "mearnsi group". These are sometimes treated as six separate species, but hybridization occurs among them and several subspecies intergrade with others from different group (cismontanus often considered a hybrid between nominate and "oreganus group"). In the past, subspecies dorsalis sometimes treated as a separate species.

Proposed subspecies eumesus (from Blue Mts of Washington) included within shufeldti. Availability of name shufeldti has been disputed, andreplacement name simillima proposed.

The following 16 subspecies are recognised:

• hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758)   -  Breeds Alaska and across Canada from central Yukon, north-western and central Mackenzie and south-western Nunavut east to northern Quebec, Labrador and Newfoundland and south to north-eastern British Columbia, central Alberta, central Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba and north-eastern USA (south to central Minnesota, south-eastern Wisconsin, central Michigan, western and northern Pennsylvania, south-eastern New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts). Non-breeding from southern edge of breeding range southern (mostly east of Rocky Mts) to north-western Mexico (northern Baja California, northern Sonora and central Chihuahua) and Gulf Coast (southern Texas east to north-eastern Florida).
• cismontanus Dwight, 1918   -  Breeds south-central Yukon south to central interior of British Columbia and west-central Alberta. Non-breeding from southern coastal British Columbia south to extreme north-western Mexico (northern Baja California) and south-western USA (south to Arizona and New Mexico, east to Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and central Texas.
• oreganus (Townsend, JK, 1837)   -  Breeds south-eastern Alaska south to Calvert I, in central-western British Columbia. Non-breeding also southern along coast to central (rarely south) California.
• shufeldti Coale, 1887   -  Breeds on western slope of coastal ranges from south-western British Columbia southern in western USA to western Oregon (to c. 43° north). Non-breeding south to southern California, sparsely also to south-eastern Idaho, Colorado, western Texas and northern Mexico (Chihuahua).
• montanus Ridgway, 1898   -  Breeds in central interior British Columbia and south-western Alberta southern in western USA to eastern Oregon, western Montana and central Idaho. Non-breeding to southern British Columbia, western Montana and South Dakota south to northern Mexico (northern Baja California, northern Sonora and central Chihuahua) and southern USA (to central Texas and eastern Kansas).
• thurberi Anthony, 1890   -  Breeds southern Oregon and California (southern on coast to San Francisco, and in interior mountains to San Diego County). Non-breeding also in adjacent lowlands east to Arizona and south-western New Mexico and south to north-western Mexico (Baja California and Sonora).
• pinosus Loomis, 1893   -  Coastal ranges of central California (from San Francisco south to San Benito and southern Monterey County).
• pontilis Oberholser, 1919   -  Sierra Juárez, in northern Baja California (north-western Mexico).
• townsendi Anthony, 1889   -  Sierra San Pedro Mártir, in northern Baja California.
• aikeni Ridgway, 1873   -  Breeds south-eastern Montana, western South Dakota, north-eastern Wyoming and north-western Nebraska. Non-breeding also south to south-western Colorado, western Kansas, northern New Mexico and western Oklahoma.
• mearnsi Ridgway, 1897   -  Breeds extreme southern Canada (south-eastern Alberta and south-western Saskatchewan) southern in USA to eastern Idaho, central Montana and north-eastern Wyoming. Non-breeding from northern Utah, north-western Wyoming and western and central Nebraska south to northern Mexico (northern Sonora, central Chihuahua and Durango) and western Texas.
• insularis Ridgway, 1876   -  Oak-pine forests of Guadalupe I. (off western Baja California). Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Guadalupe Junco (Junco insularis).
• caniceps (Woodhouse, 1853)   -  Breeds in mountains of southern Idaho and southern Wyoming south to central and eastern Nevada, southern Utah, western and central Colorado and northern New Mexico. Non-breeding also east to western Nebraska, western Kansas and western Texas, south to northern Mexico (Sonora, northern Sinaloa, Chihuahua and northern Durango).
• dorsalis Henry, 1858   -  Breeds in mountains of New Mexico, extreme western Texas and northern Arizona. Non-breeding also slightly farther south.
• mutabilis van Rossem, 1931   -  Mountains of southern Nevada and adjacent south-eastern California.
• carolinensis Brewster, 1886   -  Breeds eastern USA in Appalachian Mts (from north-western West Virginia and western Maryland south to northern Georgia). Winters in breeding area, and adjacent lower elevations.

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