Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species is restricted to a very small range. It however shows a high tolerance of degraded habitats and remains unaffected by the impact of introduced mammals and is therefore not considered at risk. The species is evaluated as Least Concern, but careful monitoring is required to detect any negative impacts of habitat degradation or invasive species on the population size.
Population justification
The population size is preliminarily suspected to fall into the band 10,000-19,999 individuals. This equates to 6,667-13,333 mature individuals, rounded here to 6,000-15,000 mature individuals.
The species is restricted to one small island, where it occurs in all habitat types present; it is therefore assessed as one subpopulation.
Trend justification
The species occurs in any habitat type present on the island, tolerates disturbed, secondary growth and is not impacted by invasive species (Jaramillo 2020); therefore its population is suspected to be stable.
Pinaroloxias inornata is endemic to Cocos Island, c.500 km from Costa Rica, where it is the most common landbird (Slud 1967). It is abundant in the lowlands and sparser at higher altitude.
It occupies every available habitat on the island, including Hibiscus thickets along coasts, woodland, open country and closed-canopy forest (Smith and Sweatman 1976; Sherry 1985; Stiles and Skutch 1989), and is common in disturbed vegetation (Slud 1967). It is a generalist (Smith and Sweatman 1976), but individual birds usually specialise in one or a few of the various foraging techniques employed by the species as a whole (Stiles and Skutch 1989; Jaramillo 2020). Nesting occurs throughout the year, but is mostly concentrated in January-May (Stiles and Skutch 1989).
The species is currently not under imminent risk. Grazing by feral deer, pigs and goats degrades natural habitats on the island. Introduced rats and cats are present on the island and are potential predators, but currently do not seem to cause a population decline. Furthermore, there is low-level disturbance from increasing tourism.
Conservation Actions Underway
No targeted actions are known. The range is within the Cocos Island National Park.
12 cm. Dark, slender-billed and chunky finch. Male black. Female blackish-brown above, indistinctly streaked olive-brown. Sometimes extensively buffy forehead, lores and eyebrow. Buffish wing-bars. Buff underparts streaked black, paler on belly. Immature as female, but with yellow bill. Voice Prolonged and buzzy song, rising at the end, and often preceded by piercing, metallic note. Calls include burry and rough djrr, and whistled tyew.
Text account compilers
Hermes, C., Everest, J.
Contributors
Isherwood, I., Mahood, S., Pople, R. & Sharpe, C.J.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Cocos Finch Pinaroloxias inornata. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/cocos-finch-pinaroloxias-inornata on 26/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 26/12/2024.