Sharp-beaked ground finch

Sharp-beaked ground finch
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Thraupidae
Genus:	Geospiza
Species:	G. difficilis
Binomial name
Geospiza difficilis Sharpe, 1888

The sharp-beaked ground finch (Geospiza difficilis) is a species of bird in the Darwin's finch group of the tanager family Thraupidae. This rather small, slender-billed bird is endemic to the Galápagos Islands, where found on Fernandina, Santiago, Pinta, Genovesa, Darwin, and Wolf. On the first three islands, it breeds in the humid highlands and disperses afterwards, but on the remaining smaller and lower islands the sharp-beaked ground finch is found in the arid zone year-round. Formerly it was also present in the highlands of several other islands, and it is possible it still occurs on Isabela.

The subspecies on the islands of Darwin and Wolf has gained a level of notoriety due to its habit of feeding on blood of large birds, notably boobies, gaining it the common name vampire finch. Other subspecies do not exhibit this behavior, instead feeding mainly on insects.

References

• Sharp-beaked ground finch media at ARKive