• 

  Profile

• 

  In flight

Songbirds

Azores Bullfinch

Pyrrhula murina

• legendary
• 45 km/h
• Vulnerable

The Priolo survives on one volcano. Once down to a few hundred birds on São Miguel, conservation pulled it back.

Population

500–1,700 mature individuals (2018 estimate, BirdLife/IUCN 2021 assessment)

Habitat

Native laurissilva (laurel) forest, especially in winter/spring; uses open scrub, bare ground/vegetation under 2m, and forest margins in summer/autumn, occasionally exotic plantations near native forest edges; elevation roughly 300–800 m in the core range

Fun fact

Known locally as the "Priolo," the Azores Bullfinch was believed extinct from 1932 until its rediscovery in 1967, and is now confined to a single patch of native laurel forest on São Miguel Island where restoration efforts helped its population recover enough to be downlisted from Critically Endangered to Vulnerable.

Range

Endemic to São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal — confined to the eastern end of the island (Pico da Vara / Serra da Tronqueira region); extent of occurrence about 700 km², severely fragmented, occupying a single location

Diet

Largely herbivorous: seeds, fruits, flower buds, fern sporangia and fronds, and moss tips, with occasional invertebrates (e.g. Hemiptera); the lily-of-the-valley tree (Clethra arborea) is a key food source

Size

0.16 m