I first heard of the junco when I was a young boy coloring eggs for Easter. Deciding to do things my way, I found a second bowl and began to mix a little of each colored dye to make my own special color. I ended up with a dark, bluish-purple and my mother laughed and said the egg I dyed looked like a junco. That was the first time I had heard the word, but I liked the sound of it. Later my mother told me what a junco was. Even when I was very young, she knew I had an intense interest in birds. I had to wait until the next winter before I could get a good look at a junco. Here in northeast Ohio, this slate-colored member of the sparrow family is commonly identified as the “snowbird.” In Ohio, we use the same name for seniors who head to Florida and points south for the winter. However, when the feathered snowbirds reach Ohio for their winter sojourns, they have already made their trips south, migrating from the more severe weather to our north. Seeing the juncos arrive in Ohio is a clear indicator that winter is upon us. Although this bird has several subspecies, this article will focus on the dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis), more commonly known as the slate-colored junco. I will carve the bird from tupelo, using power tools.