Tag Archives: Finch

Beak of the Finch: cheep, er, cheap.

The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time by Jonathan Reiner is right now cheap in Kindle form.

It is a very good account of the incredibly important work on evolution done by the Peter and Rosemary Grant on Daphne Major island in the Galapagos. This is the study that demonstrated real time evolution of birds among the group initially studied by Charles Darwin. Those observations by Darwin helped shape is conception of natural selection, and the more recent work by the Grants is a modern day demonstration that Darwin was right.

What kind of bird landed on Bernie’s podium?

You all know this happened.

But there is some controversy over what kind of bird it is.

There is no doubt whatsoever that the bird was a finch. However, what kind? Most likely a house finch, because they are common, and the most likely to live in a big auditorium thingie and not be fearful of people.

A pic of the bird is above. Here is another:

Screen Shot 2016-03-26 at 5.35.55 PM

What do you think it is?