Española ground finch
| Española ground finch | |
|---|---|
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| On Española Island, the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Thraupidae |
| Genus: | Geospiza |
| Species: | G. conirostris |
| Binomial name | |
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Geospiza conirostris Ridgway, 1890 |
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The Española ground finch (Geospiza conirostris) is a species of bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is one of Darwin's finches, and is endemic to the Galápagos islands, Ecuador, where it is restricted to Española Island. This rather dark bird resembles the smaller and finer-beaked common cactus finch, but the two species do not co-inhabit any island.
Its natural habitat is dry shrubland and it is commonly seen on the ground. Its main food source is the cactus Opuntia.
The Española ground finch is one of Darwin's finches, a group of closely related birds which evolved on the Galápagos Islands. The group is related to the Tiaris grassquits, which are found in South America and the Caribbean. An ancestral relative of those grassquits arrived on the Galápagos Islands some 2–3 million years ago, and the Española ground finch is one of the species which evolved from that ancestor. From a study done in 2015, the Española ground finch (G.c. conirostris) of Espanola was found to be a sister to the large ground finch, not to Genovesa cactus finch. (Lamichhaney et al. 2015).
The Española ground finch is among the largest of the Darwin's finches, measuring 15 cm (5.9 in) in length. The male is black, with white-tipped undertail coverts. Female and immature birds range in color from dull gray to matte black, and frequently show white edges to the feathers of their underparts.
Female on Española
Male on Española
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