Medium Ground-finch

Taxobox
name = Medium Ground-finch

---

status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Emberizidae
genus = "Geospiza"
species = "G. fortis"
binomial = "Geospiza fortis"
binomial_authority = Gould, 1837
synonyms =

The Medium Ground-finch ("Geospiza fortis") is a species of bird in the Emberizidae family. It is endemic to the Galapagos Islands. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland. One of Darwin's finches, the species was the first which scientists have observed evolving in real-time due to competition from another species. [Citation |last=Goudarzi |first=Sara |title=Scientists watch Darwin’s finches evolve |url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13845002/ |accessdate=2007-11-07] Specifically, the beak of the medium ground-finch reduced in size over two decades in order to eat smaller seeds, as larger species which were introduced to their habitat were eating the larger ones, leaving the finch with an inadequate food supply.

Footnotes

References

* BirdLife International 2004. [http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/54050/all Geospiza fortis] . [http://www.iucnredlist.org 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. ] Downloaded on 25 July 2007.