Yellow-eyed Junco, Junco phaeonotus

Yellow-eyed Junco, Junco phaeonotus phaeonotus. Photograph taken within the Parque National La Marquesa, La Cima, Mexico, March 2018. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

Yellow-eyed Junco, Junco phaeonotus phaeonotus. Photograph taken within a residential community in Hereford, Arizona, January 2016. Photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Behrstock, Sierra Vista, Arizona (naturewideimages.com).

The Yellow-eyed Junco, Junco phaeonotus phaeonotus, is one of four subspecies of Yellow-eyed Junco, all four of which are found in Mexico. They are a member of the Passerellidae Family of New World Sparrows, which has one hundred thirty-two members placed in thirty genera, and one of five global species of the Junco Genus. They are known in Mexico as carbonero ojilumbres.

The Yellow-eyed Junco is medium in stature with the males being slightly larger than the females, but the sexes are similar in appearance. Their head and uppertail coverts are gray and their back and greater covers and tertials are contrastingly rufous. Their chin and throat are pale gray; their belly and undertail coverts are white; their flanks are gray; and, their tail is dark with white outer rectrices. Their bill is bicolored being black on the upper mandible and yellow on the lower mandible, their iris is bright yellow, and their legs and feet are pale yellowish-brown.

The Yellow-eyed Junco is found within the transition and boreal zones within coniferous forests, pine, pine-oak, scrub, brush, pastures, and fields in the mountains at elevations between 1,200 meters (3,940 feet) and 3,500 meters (11,500 feet). They are non-migratory. They are ground foragers that feed on arthropods, insects, and seeds. They form pairs during the breeding season and then migrate to lower elevations for wintering joining large flocks of Dark-eyed Juncos, Junco hyemalis. They have life spans of up to six years. Their nests are known to be preyed upon by various birds and rattlesnakes.

The Yellow-eyed Junco is unique in appearance and cannot be confused with any other species with the possible exception of the Dark-eyed Junco, Junco hymalis (rufous backs, back lores, dark eye).

The Yellow-eyed Junco is found in northeastern Sonora and western Chihuahua and from north central Coahuila, western Nuevo Leόn and southwestern Tamaulipas south to central Oaxaca west of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and in the mountains of northern Chiapas at elevations between 1,200 meters (3,940 feet) and 3,500 meters (11,500 feet). The phaeonotus subspecies is found in western Mexico from southern Jalisco south to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

From a conservation perspective the Yellow-eyed Junco is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are commonly seen within campsites and picnic areas being reasonably tolerant of human disturbances. They have been the subject of several behavioral studies including aggression, foraging techniques, flock sizes, and song development.