Espanola Cactus Finch

The Española cactus finch (Geospiza conirostris) is a species of bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is one of Darwin's finches, and is endemic to the Galápagos islands, where it is restricted to Española, Genovesa, and the Darwin and Wolf Islands. This rather dark bird resembles the smaller and finer-beaked common cactus finch, but the two species do not co-inhabit any island. Its natural habitat is dry shrubland and it is commonly seen on the ground. Its main food source is the cactus Opuntia. == Taxonomy == The Española cactus finch is one of Darwin's finches, a group of closely related birds that evolved on the Galápagos Islands. The group is related to the Tiaris grassquits, which are found in South America and the Caribbean. An ancestral relative of those grassquits arrived on the Galápagos Islands some 2–3 million years ago, and the Española cactus finch is one of the species that evolved from that ancestor. From a study done in 2015, the Española cactus finch of Española was found to be a sister to the large ground finch, not to the Genovesa cactus finch. The International Ornithologists' Union has changed the taxonomy based on the study. Other taxonomic…