Finches Evolution
There are quite a number of birds in the world. But some birds look so similar even if they don’t belong to the same class that ordinary people who are not as knowledgeable about birds as other people, wouldn’t be able to tell one from the other. On the other hand, two birds of the same specie may look completely different, from their color to the size of their beaks. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why there are bird lovers around the globe. The birds’ differences and similarities plus their characteristics catch people’s attention. There is just so much variety.
Finches are among the most interesting birds out there. Not only because of their singing abilities, most particularly in males, but because of their evolution. A variety of finches exist in fact due to their evolution. There are woodpecker finches, which got their name from woodpeckers, and are able to drill holes into trees. Vampire finches, another branch of evolution, drink the blood of other birds. These particular finches evolution was particularly observed in Galapagos Islands where Charles Darwin himself, author of The Origin of Species, once visited.
Another proof of some of the finches evolution in Galapagos Island is the size of their beaks. Finches with larger beaks are in competition with finches with smaller beaks.
This phenomenon is called character displacement in which evolution take place as a result of food competition, and as an after effect, minimizes further competition. In this case their changing beaks come as a result of their changing diet, and their changing diet comes as a result of their competition for food. As a result of the competition between large-beaked finches and small-beaked finches, the ones with medium sized beaks evolved to have smaller sized beaks; this enabled them to adapt to eating smaller seeds which did not interest the ones with larger beaks as they prefer larger seeds.
Another finches evolution comes in the form of the white finches or White Zebra Finch. They are considered among the earliest mutations to have occurred in captivity. However, their exact origin and place is unknown. The white finches mutation is considered to be recessive.
True Whites, although completely white in color, retained the finches’ sex characteristics: that is, females have orange beaks and males have red beaks and bright orange cheek feathers. Their eye color may either be reddish brown or dark brown. They also have retained the characteristic of orange pigmentation on their legs.
Whites with eyes that are reddish brown are said to come from the Fawn lineage while those whose eyes are dark brown are most likely originated from Grey lineage. As they mature, though, it becomes harder to tell whether the eyes are reddish brown or dark brown. Eye color is more obvious when the birds are still younglings, just right after they are hatched.
There is also a breed of finch that people call Albino Zebras. Albino Zebras have white feathers but have bright pinkish red eyes. Albino Zebras aren’t well established mutations and are extremely difficult to find.
