Yellow-eyed junco

The yellow-eyed junco (Junco phaeonotus) is a species of junco, a group of small New World sparrows.

Its range is primarily in Mexico, extending into some of the mountains of the southern tips of the U.S. states of Arizona and New Mexico. It is not generally migratory, but sometimes moves to nearby lower elevations during winter. The female lays three to five pale gray or bluish-white eggs in an open nest of dried grass two to three times a year. Incubation takes 15 days, and when hatched, the chicks are ready to leave the nest two weeks later. This bird's diet consists mainly of seeds, berries and insects.

Taxonomy
The yellow-eyed junco was formally described in 1831 by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler from a specimen collected in Mexico. He introduced a new genus, Junco, and coined the binomial name Junco phaeonotus. The genus name is from Latin iuncus meaning "rush". The specific epithet combines the Ancient Greek  phaios meaning "dusky" or "brown" with -nōtos meaning "-backed".

Four subspecies are recognised:


 * J. p. palliatus Ridgway, 1885 – the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico
 * J. p. phaeonotus Wagler, 1831 – central and southern Mexico
 * J. p. fulvescens Nelson, 1897 – the interior of Chiapas (in southern Mexico)
 * J. p. alticola Salvin, 1863 – southeastern Chiapas (in southern Mexico) and western Guatemala

Related species
Baird's junco (Junco bairdi) was previously considered a subspecies of this species.