Darwin’s finches

Onwards and upwards! Today I want to soar into the wonderful world of Darwin’s finches: these sweet birds are another famous feature of Galapagos wildlife.

A finch is perched on a tree branch, looking right. It has fluffy feathers in shades of grey, a small black eye and a light yellow beak.
Presenting the award-winner for the very roundest borb in the isles!

Although this group bears his now-famous name, Darwin himself paid more attention to the islands’ mockingbirds! Although he did encounter and collect finches, it was actually his contemporary, ornithologist John Gould, who realized their significance. Gould’s studies of Darwin’s specimens led the geologist-turned-naturalist to revisit his own notes. Eventually, he would incorporate the finches into his developing theory of evolution by natural selection.

As for us, we were fortunate to see them in person on our trip to the Galapagos! Our first stop was a farm in the rural Santa Cruz highlands. It was a lovely, verdant place inhabited by dozens of Darwin’s finches! Their variety was dazzling. After all, there are fully 13 species endemic to the islands!

At our farm-stay, we saw small, medium and large ground finches, plus some small tree finches. We also had multiple definitive grey warbler-finch sightings!

A grey-warbler finch is the subject of this photograph. He is standing on - and feeding from! - a batch of small bananas that are hanging from a tree.
Indeed, we shared our bananas with this individual most mornings 🙂

In the arid zone closer to the coast, we also encountered many individuals of the ‘common’ cactus finch species – not so common for us! This is probably the easiest finch species to identify. Cactus finches have a unique beak shape and are often found in or around Opuntia (prickly pear) cactus flowers!

This is a portrait of an inquisitive-looking common cactus finch male. He's perched lightly on a wooden park bench and is gazing toward the camera with a beak covered in yellow pollen!
The darker-colored males in particular are easily identified by their adorably pollen-covered faces!

Santa Cruz was not the only island on which we encountered Darwin’s finches: we found them everywhere we went in the Galapagos!

This is a close-up image of a particularly striking Darwin's finch. He's perched on lava rock. His dark plumage contrasts with the yellow of his beak and the red of the lava rocks.
Here’s a gorgeous male who kindly posed for me in the lava fields of Sierra Negra volcano on Isabela Island!

In addition to the aforementioned banana and cactus munching, we got to witness many other neat bird behaviors. Some of my favorites were the following:

Here, a lone, light-colored finch in an acacia tree holds a dark berry up with a claw.
A female finch uses her toes to prepare this berry for feasting!
As stated in the caption, two finches are bathing in this image! They balance delicately on the thin stems of bright new leaves, and are busy wiping their faces and breasts across the dew on the leaves.
Look closely: in the absence of a pond, two finches use the morning dew for bathing!
An action-shot of a Darwin's finch mid-song. It's black toes curve around a diagonal tree branch, and it's dark grey feathers are ruffled. It's yellow beak is wide-open.
Not the best background for a photo – but the sweetest serenade!

I’ll leave you with my favorite super-close encounter, right on the steps of our place in Santa Cruz. No zoom: just one species eyeing another in the magic of las Islas Encantadas!

In this portrait, a fluffy Darwin's finch eyes the author's lens with it's head tilted to the side. It's short grey legs support a round body, feathers mottled brown, grey and cream. This finch's bill is thick and dark.
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Want more finch fun facts? Head here, and check out the amazing woodpecker finch’s unique ability!

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