Last week's bird was a little tricky, I suppose, with some 6 sub-species of Dark-eyed Junco, knowing the range we can narrow down the list of possible suspects to 3: Slate-colored, Pink-sided, and Oregon. Looking closely at the Pink-sided we see that in adult plumages the lores (the fleshy area between the base of the bill and the eyes) is black, eliminating this sub-species as a contender. The Slate-colored female can be similar in appearance but, in mid-July, highly unlikely as they nest in the Boreal forests of Canada and would be extremely rare in mid-summer. In addition, our bird has a a full grey hood where the Slate-colored "brown" female has brown on the back of the head. So the answer is female Dark-eyed Junco, Oregon sub-species.
This week's bird is also a forest dweller that was photographed in western Montana. Good luck!
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