The sharp-beaked ground finch (''Geospiza difficilis'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

in the

Darwin's finch Darwin's finches (also known as the Galápagos finches) are a group of about 18 species of passerine birds. They are well known for their remarkable diversity in beak form and function. They are often classified as the subfamily Geospizinae or t ...

group of the

tanager The tanagers (singular ) comprise the bird family Thraupidae, in the order Passeriformes. The family has a Neotropical distribution and is the second-largest family of birds. It represents about 4% of all avian species and 12% of the Neotrop ...

family

Thraupidae The tanagers (singular ) comprise the bird family Thraupidae, in the order Passeriformes. The family has a Neotropical distribution and is the second-largest family of birds. It represents about 4% of all avian species and 12% of the Neotrop ...

. It is classified as a

least-concern species A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natur ...

and it is native to the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador. It has a mass of around and the males have black plumage, while females have streaked brown plumage. This finch was described by

Richard Bowdler Sharpe Richard Bowdler Sharpe (22 November 1847 – 25 December 1909) was an English zoologist and ornithologist who worked as curator of the bird collection at the British Museum of natural history. In the course of his career he published several mo ...

in 1888. This relatively small, slender-billed finch is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands ( es, Islas Galápagos) are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the Equator west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with ...

, where it is found on Fernandina,

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, who ...

, Pinta,

Genovesa Genovesa Island (Spanish: ''Isla Genovesa''), referred to in English as Tower Island, is a shield volcano in the Galápagos Islands in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The island occupies about , and its maximum elevation is . The horse-shoe shaped is ...

Darwin Darwin may refer to: Common meanings * Charles Darwin (1809–1882), English naturalist and writer, best known as the originator of the theory of biological evolution by natural selection * Darwin, Northern Territory, a territorial capital city i ...

, and

Wolf Island Wolf Island ( Spanish: ''Isla Wolf'') or Wenman Island is a small island in the Galápagos Islands and was named after the German geologist Theodor Wolf, who also has the volcano Wolf on Isabela Island named after him. It has an area of and a ...

s. 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. Due to

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

its range has decreased. It was formerly also present in the highlands of several other islands, and it is possible it still occurs on Isabela. Both the

vampire ground finch The vampire ground finch (''Geospiza septentrionalis'') is a small bird native to the Galápagos Islands. It was considered a very distinct subspecies of the sharp-beaked ground finch (''Geospiza difficilis'') endemic to Wolf and Darwin Isl ...

and the

Genovesa ground finch The Genovesa ground finch (''Geospiza acutirostris'') is a small bird native to the Galápagos Islands. It was considered a subspecies of the sharp-beaked ground finch (''Geospiza difficilis'') endemic to Genovesa Islands.Grant, Peter R.; Gran ...

were considered subspecies. The

International Ornithologists' Union The International Ornithologists' Union, formerly known as the International Ornithological Committee, is a group of about 200 international ornithologists, and is responsible for the International Ornithological Congress and other international ...

have split them, while other taxonomic authorities still consider them conspecific.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q585217 sharp-beaked ground finch Endemic birds of the Galápagos Islands sharp-beaked ground finch Taxonomy articles created by Polbot