Darwin's Finch No. 2

[Bill Dix]

D90; 18-200 VR @ 200mm. ISO 400. f/7.1, 1/800s. +0.7 EV. HH. ~60% crop and removed some branches.

I think this one is a Large Tree Finch - I posted it to the ID forum for ID help but had no responses, so this is a guess. Note the profound difference in beak size and shape compared to the Warbler Finch posted yesterday, each one adapted to his niche food source. According to legend it was this beak shape adaptation that caused the light bulb to go on in Darwin's brain leading to the theory of Natural Selection (but the truth is a bit more complicated.) C&C always appreciated.

[Dave Leroy]

An interesting looking bird Bill.

Looks like a hint of blue along the flanks or on the belly. I assume that would be the bird's nest.

A very nice record of your trip to go along with the legend.

[Alfred Forns]

Can't help with the ID Bill but what your saying makes sense !!! .. btw John might be out and I'm' sure he will get to the ID !!

Like the exposure comp, lots of detail and it is a clean nest image .. btw would give a more room to the branch at the right side and take a bit of the left !!!

[Dave Mills]

Hi Bill, I like the story telling aspect of the image very much. Agree with Al's crop suggestions and I would take a bit off the top

[Bill Dix]

Thanks guys. In my master file I will shift the position of the subject up and to the left just a bit to get rid of some negative space. I appreciate the suggestion. Actually, although the mass of vegetation looks like a nest, I think it is some sort of epiphyte; there was a bunch of it attached to the tree branches elsewhere outside the frame of this image. (But if you think it helps the story, think of it as a nest.;))

[Ann Fiske]

Hi Bill,
My guess would be a Large Ground Finch. Please let us know when you find out for sure. I've been enjoying your photos of these Finches.:)

Thanks,
ann

[Bill Dix]

Hi Bill,
My guess would be a Large Ground Finch. Please let us know when you find out for sure. I've been enjoying your photos of these Finches.:)

Thanks,
ann

Thanks Ann. Large Ground Finch was one of three possibilities, based on the images I have in my natural history guides. You could well be right, and I'll let you know if I find out. The world's greatest expert on these birds lives a few blocks from me, but I don't know him and have resisted the temptation to knock on his door.

[Bill Dix]

Hi Bill,
My guess would be a Large Ground Finch. Please let us know when you find out for sure. I've been enjoying your photos of these Finches.:)

Thanks,
ann

Ann, I succumbed to the temptation and wrote to Peter Grant, who has been studying these Galapagos finches for decades. (Read "The Beak of the Finch" by Jonathan Weiner, about the Grants' work). He believes this is the Cactus Ground Finch (although he acknowledges that they are extremely difficult to identify with certainty - expecially in the absence of comparative size info -, and the open beak in this image makes it even more difficult.)