Yellow-eyed Junco (Junco phaeonotus), Evergreen Cemetery, Pima County

This Yellow-eyed Junco was discovered independently by Rich Hoyer and Scott Olmstead andby Philip Kline on 1 Dec 2009 and was photographed by Andrew Core the same day. 

Abundant resident in the mountains of southeast Arizona.  It is an altitudinal migrant, but only rarely found this low. The elevation of Evergreen Cemetery is 2329 ft (710m). One was found 22 Nov 2009 on Woodland Rd in Tucson (2526 ft or 770m).

from Dave Stejskal: There are a few scattered records of Yellow-eyed Junco in the lowlands of southern Arizona. The most notable incursion was in the winter of 1978-1979 when there were several reports. Here's a quote from the Winter Season report in "American Birds" (now North American Birds): "Absolutely unprecedented was the down slope movement of Yellow-eyed Juncos in southern Arizona. The species appeared in numbers in areas where never recorded before: at least four around Tucson, several in the Baboquivari, Atascosa, and Patagonia Mts., and two in Bisbee; in addition, unusually large numbers occurred at low elevation in the Huachuca and Chiricahua Mts." It will be interesting to see if there are any more reports from other locales this winter. Interestingly, Winter '78-'79 was also a good year for bluebirds in the southern Arizona lowlands, but there didn't seem to be much else going on regarding other montane species moving into the lowlands, like we've all seen this year.

The yellow eye is distinctive; otherwise resembles the "Red-backed" form of Dark-eyed Junco, but with more red in the back, greater coverts and tertials. The lower mandible is paler as well.

01 December 2009, photo by Andrew Core