Medium ground finch
Geospiza fortis
EndemicOn landLeast concern
The medium ground finch is one of Darwin’s finches and the bird in which biologists first documented natural selection on beak size. It has a variable, stout bill suited to cracking seeds of different sizes. It occurs on ten Galápagos islands in arid and transition zones. Long-term study on Daphne Major made it a textbook example of evolution in action.
Best time to see it
Resident year-round; breeding is triggered by rainfall in the warm wet season.