One of the 3 juncos on WAnimals
Birds · Passeriformes · Passerellidae
Guadalupe Junco
Junco insularis
It faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future. See full glossary
The Guadalupe junco is a bird endemic to a single Mexican island in the Pacific, Guadalupe Island, where it survives in the last stands of cypress and pine forest. Feral goats stripped the island's vegetation for more than a century, and their eradication in 2007 has allowed the forest and the junco to begin to recover.
Weight
17 g – 22 g
Size
13 cm – 15 cm
Lifespan
8 years
Diet
Omnivore
Combines animal and plant food depending on availability.
Activity
Diurnal
Active mainly during the day.
Social structure
In pairs
Usually lives in pairs, sometimes for life.
Sighting difficulty
Hard
Estimated population
Around 100,000 individuals in a tiny area
Fun facts
- The eradication of feral goats from Guadalupe Island in 2007, after more than a century of degradation, is one of the most ambitious island restoration projects in Latin America, and the cypress forest has begun to regenerate for the first time in generations.
- The island lost several endemic species before that intervention, among them an owl and a kinglet of its own: the junco is one of the survivors.
- Its total range is a fraction of an island of 250 square kilometres, which keeps it in the endangered category even though its population is counted in tens of thousands.
Life cycle & biology
- Skeleton type
- Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
- Habitat & environment
- Cypress and pine forest of Guadalupe Island, off Baja California
- Sexual maturity
- 12 months
- Gestation / incubation
- 13 days of incubation
- Litter / clutch size
- 3 eggs
Sources consulted: https://www.iucnredlist.org/ | https://animaldiversity.org/ | https://es.wikipedia.org/
Where to watch it
Parks and dive sites where this species has been documented.
Related species
Other species in the catalogue with the most in common with Guadalupe Junco — same habitat, park, country, tags or family.
Song Sparrow
Melospiza melodia
Brandt's Cormorant
Phalacrocorax penicillatus
Scripps's Murrelet
Synthliboramphus scrippsi
EndangeredBlue Whale
Balaenoptera musculus
Volcano Junco
Junco vulcani
Shortfin Mako
Isurus oxyrinchus
How to help
The guadalupe junco is classified as endangered. Organizations such as UICN, WWF y Wildlife Conservation Society work specifically on its conservation and that of its habitat; looking into their programs is a good starting point if you want to get involved.
Keep exploring
Based on what we already know about guadalupe junco.
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