"Junco" is also a shrub in the genus Adolphia

Adolphia

Adolphia is a genus of shrubs in the buckthorn family containing only two species. These are rigid, thorny, flowering bushes. Adolphia californica, the California prickbush or California spineshrub, is native to southern California and northern Mexico. Adolphia infesta, the junco, is found in...

 and the Spanish term for rush

Juncus

Juncus is a genus in the plant family Juncaceae. It consists of some 200 to 300 or more species of grassy plants commonly called rushes...

es (genus Juncus).

A Junco (icon), genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Junco, is a small North American bird. Junco systematics

Systematics

Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of terrestrial life, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees...

 are still confusing after decades of research, with various authors accepting between three and twelve species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

. Despite having a name that appears to derive from the Spanish term for the plant genus Juncus

Juncus

Juncus is a genus in the plant family Juncaceae. It consists of some 200 to 300 or more species of grassy plants commonly called rushes...

 (rushes), these birds are seldom found among rush plants, as these prefer wet ground, while junco like dry soil.

Their breeding habitat is coniferous or mixed forest areas throughout North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, ranging from subarctic taiga

Taiga

Taiga , also known as the boreal forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests.Taiga is the world's largest terrestrial biome. In North America it covers most of inland Canada and Alaska as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States and is known as the Northwoods...

 to high altitude mountain

Mountain

Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...

 forests in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 and Central America

Central America

Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

 south to Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

. Northern birds usually migrate

Bird migration

Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...

 farther south; southern populations are permanent residents or altitudinal migrants, moving only a short distance downslope to avoid severe winter weather in the mountains.

These birds forage on the ground. In winter, they often forage in flocks. They eat mainly insects and seeds. They usually nest in a well-hidden location on the ground or low in a shrub or tree.

Systematics

• Dark-eyed Junco
  Dark-eyed Junco
  The Dark-eyed Junco is the best-known species of the juncos, a genus of small grayish American sparrows. This bird is common across much of temperate North America and in summer ranges far into the Arctic...
  
  , Junco hyemalis
  • Gray-headed Junco, Junco hyemalis caniceps—sometimes considered distinct species
  • Oregon Juncos, oreganus subspecies group—considered by some to be a distinct species
  • Pink-sided Junco, Junco hyemalis mearnsi—sometimes included with oreganus group in distinct species
  • Red-backed Junco, Junco hyemalis dorsalis—sometimes included with J. h. caniceps in distinct species
  • Slate-colored Juncos, hyemalis subspecies group—sometimes considered distinct species
  • White-winged Junco
    White-winged Junco
    The White-winged Junco is a subspecies of the Dark-eyed Junco. It is superficially similar to the Slate-colored Junco. It was formerly classified as a distinct species....
    
    , Junco hyemalis aikeni—sometimes considered distinct species
• Guadalupe Junco
  Guadalupe Junco
  The Guadalupe Junco, Junco hyemalis insularis, is a bird endemic to Guadalupe Island off Pacific Mexico. It is often considered a subspecies of the Dark-eyed Junco, for example by the IUCN which lumps these taxa in the 2008 IUCN Red List...
  
  , Junco insularis—sometimes included in J. hyemalis
• Yellow-eyed Junco
  Yellow-eyed Junco
  The Yellow-eyed Junco is a species of junco, small American sparrows. It is the only North American junco with yellow eyes....
  
  , Junco phaeonotus
  • Baird's Junco, bairdi group
  • Chiapas Junco, fulvescens group
  • Guatemala Junco, alticola group
  • Mexican Junco, phaeonotus group
• Volcano Junco
  Volcano Junco
  The Volcano Junco, Junco vulcani, is an American sparrow endemic to the high mountains of Costa Rica and western Panama.This junco breeds above the timberline, typically at altitudes above 3000m, but there is an isolated population at 2100 m on the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica, and forest...
  
  , Junco vulcani