Natural selection at its most powerful winnowed certain finches harshly during a severe drought in 1977. That year, the vegetation withered. Seeds of all kinds were scarce. The small, soft ones ...

On various islands, finch species have become adapted for different diets: seeds, insects, flowers, the blood of seabirds, and leaves. The ancestral finch was a ground-dwelling, seed-eating finch.

I was fortunate enough to have a pair of purple finches nest near me, allowing me to observe their courtship ritual for the first time. The male sang incessantly from a tree ...

It has become very common in suburban areas and is easily attracted in large numbers to seed feeders. Polytypic. Length 6". The house is a relatively small Carpodacus finch with a longish ...

The finch-type birds are house finches and are fairly common visitors to seed feeders in our area. As their common name implies, they’re common around human dwellings and often nest beneath the ...

In particular, changes to the size and shape of the beaks have enabled the different species to specialise in different types of food: seeds, insects, cactus flowers and fruits or even bird blood. The ...