Cocos Island Finch
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Size: 12 cm long
Weight: 12.5 g
Colour Pattern: A Cocos Island Finch (Pinaroloxias inornata) male is entirely black, while the female is a heavily streaked brown, with a paler underside. The young are similar but have yellow bills. There is a white area on the under tail feathers covering the bases of the main flight or tail feathers and belly, but it has large dark feather centres. The female is brownish.
Behaviour: Cocos Finches are specialists as individuals, in other words individual birds are more likely to be seed eaters, while others are insect eaters, etc. So niche separation is not absolute, but individual variation appears to keep all birds from exploiting the same resources.
Habitat: The Cocos Finch is restricted to Cocos Island, which is about 500 kilometres south of Costa Rica. Cocos Island is claimed by Costa Rica, although it is offshore farther south at the latitude of Panama. The unusual aspect of this isolated island is that the same mechanism of plate tectonics flowing over a “hotspot” that created the Galapagos Islands, also created this island. 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 plants and insects.
Interesting Facts:
Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thraupidae
Genus: Pinaroloxias
Species: P. inornata
Weight: 12.5 g
Colour Pattern: A Cocos Island Finch (Pinaroloxias inornata) male is entirely black, while the female is a heavily streaked brown, with a paler underside. The young are similar but have yellow bills. There is a white area on the under tail feathers covering the bases of the main flight or tail feathers and belly, but it has large dark feather centres. The female is brownish.
Behaviour: Cocos Finches are specialists as individuals, in other words individual birds are more likely to be seed eaters, while others are insect eaters, etc. So niche separation is not absolute, but individual variation appears to keep all birds from exploiting the same resources.
Habitat: The Cocos Finch is restricted to Cocos Island, which is about 500 kilometres south of Costa Rica. Cocos Island is claimed by Costa Rica, although it is offshore farther south at the latitude of Panama. The unusual aspect of this isolated island is that the same mechanism of plate tectonics flowing over a “hotspot” that created the Galapagos Islands, also created this island. 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 plants and insects.
Interesting Facts:
- The Cocos Finch is the sole member of the genus Pinaroloxias.
Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thraupidae
Genus: Pinaroloxias
Species: P. inornata
Niche (n.)- a position or role taken by a kind of organism within its community. Such a position may be occupied by different organisms in different localities, e.g., antelopes in Africa and kangaroos in Australia.