Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Camarhynchus pallidus
Pinzón carpintero, artesano, Woodpecker Finch
Black during reproduction, olive-light brown colour outside the breeding season and pinkish when young. Males and females look alike, with upper parts olive to warm brown with little streaking and underparts creamy to yellowish with slight streaking on upper breast. Males in San Cristóbal can get a black hood – blackish plumage was observed in approximately a fifth of the San Cristóbal population.
Threats Like other finches, current threats are mainly from diseases and parasites. Is known to be affected by the parasitic fly Philornis downsi that causes heavy chick mortality. Highland birds that contracted pox in captivity, were heavily affected by this disease.
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Aves
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Thraupidae
Genus
Camarhynchus
Species
pallidus
Taxon category: Accepted
Syn.: Cactornis pallida Sclater & Salvin, 1870; Cactospiza pallida; Camarhynchus pallidus pallidus (Sclater & Salvin, 1870); Camarhynchus pallidus productus Ridgway, 1894; Camarhynchus pallidus striatipecta (Swarth, 1931)
Taxon origin: Endemic
Preference for an altitude zone in Galapagos: Coastal zone - high altitude dry zone
Habitat preferences: Most common in highlands but found all the way down to the coast in forested areas.
Feeding preferences: Feeds on insects and larvae gathered from the moss on trees as well as from under the bark on branches and trunks. Quite flexible in habits, can change foraging techniques between the wet and dry season, searching more in moss in the dry season.
Trophic role: Carnivorous
Reproduction mode: Exclusively sexual
Reproductive biology: Breeds during the rainy season (December to April), possibly start breeding a few weeks earlier than other finches. Male displays in front of a dome shape nest. Once chosen, the pair either use this nest or build a new one. Only females incubate (one to three eggs), both feed the chicks. Fledglings stay for up to 6 weeks with a parent, either with the male while the female starts a new clutch, or, one with the female and the other with the male.
Distribution: Breeds on Isabela, Fernandina (probably), Santa Cruz, Santiago, San Cristóbal, and Pinzón (rarely). It has also been recorded on Rábida (specimens 1897 and 1905), Floreana (specimen 1905) and Santa Fe (two sight records 1968), and a sight record on Pinta in 1968.
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- Tebbich, S. Teschke, I. (2014) Coping with Uncertainty: Woodpecker Finches (Cactospiza pallida) from an Unpredictable Habitat Are More Flexible than Birds from a Stable Habitat. PLOS One 9:e91718
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- Remsen, J.V. Areta, J.I.Jr., Cadena, C.D., Claramunt, S., Jaramillo, A., Pacheco, J.F., Pérez-Emán, J., Robbins, M.B., Stiles, F.G., Stotz, D.F., Zimmer, K. J. (2016) A Classification of the Bird Species of South America. South American Classification Committee. American Ornithologists' Union http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm
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Feeding type: Insectivorous
This is the famous tool-using finch of Galápagos able to use a cactus spine or a twig to get larvae from holes in wood. Uses this technique mainly during the dry season in the dry zone. Young birds can learn this behaviour, but adults cannot.