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Galapagos Ground Finch Review

The Galapagos Ground Finch is endemic to these Islands. These birds have strong beaks which are useful for feeding from seeds.

The Galapagos finches eat parasites from the backs of land iguanas, marine iguanas and giant tortoises and they also feed on the eggs of these animal.

There is an interesting finch bird on Wolf Island, it is the Sharp Beaked Ground Finch.

This bird is known as the Vampire Finch because it pecks the flesh of the backs of masked boobies, red footed boobies and blue footed boobies to feed on their blood.


 

galapagos sharp beaked finch


Other species like the Woodpecker finch and Mangrove finch use small brushwood or a cactus spine to pull out the larva found in dead tree branches. These are the only birds in the world that use this technique and it is quite a view to observe them feeding.

Male ground finches are black while the female finches are brownish. There are four species of Galapagos ground finches:

1) Sharp-beaked finch: (Geospiza nebulosa) belong to the highlands of the central and western islands.

This ground finch is called the vampire finch, for its feeding habit of drinking blood from boobies.


2) Small ground finch: (Geospiza fuliginosa) is very common throughout the Galapagos Islands except on Genovesa Island and Darwin Island.


3) Medium ground finch: (Geospiza fortis) can be seen in the major Islands (Isabela, Santa Cruz, San Cristobal) except in the smaller ones like Espaņola or Genovesa.


4) Large ground finch: (Geospiza magnirostris) is less common and can be found only in the bigger Islands.


All these finch species have similar appearance, color and behavior.

It is a real challenge for birdwatchers to differentiate or guess the species to which each Galapagos ground finch belongs.

In total there are 13 species of Galapagos Finches which are classified by groups:

Ground finches, Tree finches, Vegetarian finches, Cactus finches and Mangrove finches.

The size of the Galapagos ground finch as most of other finch species is about 10 to 20 cm.

Finches are similar in appearance but can be identified mainly by the form of their beaks.


Ground Finch Classification
Common Name Genus Species
Sharp-beaked ground FinchGeospizaDifficilis
Small Ground FinchGeospizaFuliginosa
Medium Ground FinchGeospizaFortis
Large Ground FinchGeospizaMagnirostris

The Galapagos ground finch is part of the amazing Galapagos wildlife When you visit the Islands you will have the opportunity to see them all around you, look at their beaks and try to identify the species to which they belong.

It's a fun task to try to identify them after being there a while, though it is not easy, especially with the Galapagos ground finch.

But there are more beautiful birds to look for in Galapagos, like: hawks, flamingos, Lava Gulls, pelicans, blue footed boobies, Nazca Boobies, Great blue herons and more. click here to see all Galapagos birds

More About Galapagos:

Recommended Galapagos Island Tours
Flight to Galapagos
Best Galapagos Hotel
Galapagos Island Pictures
Free Galapagos Travel Brochures


Galapagos Recommended Reading

The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time
The Beak of the Finch is an amazing work on the topic of evolution. The study of the Galapagos Finches not only proves the importance of evolution as a contemporary subject but as one that can be observed right now in the world around us. (Highly recommended)

A Guide to the Birds of the Galapagos Islands
It offers unprecedented comprehensive coverage. This field guide presents every species to have been recorded within the archipelago, including accidentals and vagrants.

Twenty eight color plates illustrate the species. Beautiful line drawings, often showing interesting aspects of bird behavior, complement a concise, accessible, and informative text. (Also recommended)

More Galapagos Books and Souvenirs



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