Catalog Number: USNM 131680
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Division of Birds
Sex/Stage: Male; Adult
Preparation: Skin: Whole
Collector(s): C. Townsend
Year Collected: 1891
Locality: Cocos Island (Costa Rica), North Pacific Ocean
- Type: Townsend, C. H. July 1895. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 27 (3): 123.
Habitat and Ecology
IUCN Red List Assessment
Red List Category
Red List Criteria
Cocos Island is a national park.Conservation Actions Proposed
Assess the size of the population. Study the impact of introduced mammals, and factors that may affect the species's abundance.
The Cocos finch or Cocos Island finch (Pinaroloxias inornata) is the only one of Darwin's finches not native to the Galápagos Islands, and the only member of the genus Pinaroloxias. Sometimes classified in the family Emberizidae, more recent studies have shown it to belong in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is endemic to Cocos Island, which is approximately 360 miles south of Costa Rica.
It is a chunky 12 cm long finch weighing around 12.5 g and with a black decurved pointed bill. The male is entirely black, while the female is a heavily streaked brown, with a paler underside. The young are similar but have yellow bills. The standard clutch is two brown-spotted white eggs, which are hatched in a roughly spherical nest built at the end of a tree branch.
The Cocos finch is the most abundant landbird on Cocos Island. It can be found in every habitat on the island and eats a wide range of plant and insects as food.
This species qualifies as Vulnerable because of its small range.
- BirdLife Species Factsheet.
- Bird-Stamps.org's page, illustrations of two postage stamps containing images of the Cocos Island finch
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