A flock of dark-eyed juncos felt rather social one December morning in Memorial Park.
The gray and white-bellied, round little sparrows hopped and chirped around the base of a tree. They come from coniferous and deciduous forests in the north, but don’t mind the mix of native Chihuahuan Desert and non-native trees found in El Paso.
After taking a moment to admire the juncos, Estrella Posada made her way down the Central El Paso park with a pair of binoculars and a DSLR camera slung over her shoulders, a well-thumbed copy of “The Sibley Guide to Birds” in one hand. Posada, a field trip coordinator for the El Paso/Trans-Pecos Audubon Society, followed a flash of vermillion – the northern flicker, a type of woodpecker, landed on a honey mesquite tree…