Finches

INTRODUCTION

In the 1832, Darwin left Great Britain in the ship HMS Beagle. Darwin was a naturalist who studied fossils, plants, rocks, and animals. He made a very famous collection in theGalapagos Islands; in those islands he studied plants animals and rocks. He had a particular interest in the fiches he found there. He found 14 species, 13 of them in the Galapagos Islands, and 1 on theCocos Island. Two examples of these are the Geospiza difficilis whose common name is sharp - beaked finch. This gets its name because of its sharp beak which it uses to peck on other birds skin toextract their blood. The other is the Pinaroloxias inornata whose common name is Cocos Island finch found in the Cocos Island.


SHARP – BEAKED FINCH (Geospiza difficilis)

The sharp – beaked finch isa small bird native of the Galápagos Islands. It has a large and cone-shaped beak that is used to collect a more varied diet of both insects and small seeds. They can take ticks from iguanas andtortoise. Their large beak helps them eat larger seeds. It is specifically found in the Darwin and Wolf Islands. Its natural habitat is located in tropical or subtropical forests. Males are mainly blackand females are mostly gray with brown stripes. It has the largest beak of all subspecies of Geospiza difficilis. Generally it looks like a miniature Cactus ground finch.

This bird is known forits unusual diet. It is called the “vampire” finch because it feeds itself with blood of other birds; they peck with their sharp beaks on the bird’s skin until they extract their blood. The finchesalso feed with their eggs they push it with their beaks and their legs until the egg finally breaks. They also take nectar from Galapagos cactus. The base of their diet consisted of seed andinvertebrates.
The sharp beaked finch is an endangered species, it is and endemic specie in a small island. Their diet varies from the high islands to the low islands. The low islands are mostly dry so they...