Galapagos Species Database

Taxon category: Accepted

Syn.: Camarhynchus psittaculus Gould, 1841; Camarhynchus psittacula affinis Ridgway, 1894; Camarhynchus psittacula habeli Sclater & Salvin, 1870; Camarhynchus psittacula psittacula Gould, 1837; Camarhynchus habeli Sclater & Salvin, 1870.

Taxon origin: Endemic

Habitat preferences: May be found in all altitudes from the arid coastal zone to the humid Scalesia forest, though in lower density in the former.

Feeding preferences: This finch has quite specialized feeding habits, mainly harvesting arthropods, adults and larvae, pecking through the bark of twigs and leaf petioles, occasionally in moss on trees in the humid season. Also feeds on fruits in the humid Scalesia forest during the dry season. Feeding habits are rather constant among zones and season (dry and humid), being the least flexible of the tree finches.

Trophic role: Omnivorous

Reproduction mode: Exclusively sexual

Reproductive biology: Male displays in front of a dome shape nest high up in the canopy. Once chosen, the pair either use this nest – or build a new one. Only females are incubating (two 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: The species is found on all the main islands except Española, Genovesa, Wolf and Darwin. It does not now breed on Santa Fe, although observations continued until 1968. It is extinct on Pinzón, where it was last seen in 1906.

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