The Vampire Finch

 The Galapagos is well known to be the home of many strange and unusual creatures. One of the most interesting animals is the vampire finch (Geospiza difficilis septentrionalis). This unusual bird is a subspecies of the sharp-beaked ground finch that lives on Darwin and Wolf Islands and has some striking behavioral differences from other sharp-beaked ground finches.

                                              

This bird earns its common name from its unusual diet. It occasionally drinks the blood of Nazca or blue-footed boobies. The sharp-beaked ground finch normally feeds on seeds and insects, but such things can often be in short supply on Darwin and Wolf. The vampire finch evolved this distinguished behavior to supplement its diet.

The vampire finch uses its sharp beak to peck at the feathers and skin of the booby until blood is drawn and drinks the nutritious blood to enrich its diet when seeds and insects are scarce. Strangely the boobies don't seem to mind the vampire finches drinking their blood. It is believed that this behavior evolved from the vampire finches picking parasites from the feathers of the boobies.

Through the ages, the finches occasionally drew blood while removing insects from the boobies. Removing parasites was beneficial to both the finch and the booby. The finch got a nutritious meal, and the booby was relieved from the pests in its feathers. When the finches drew blood, they adapted to obtaining this dietary supplement.

This bird is sexually dimorphic. The males are black whereas the females are greyish with brown streaks. As an adaption to its characteristic way of life, the vampire finch has evolved the largest and most pointed beak of all the sharp-beaked ground finch subspecies.

Absurd Creature of the Week: 

The Tiny Blood-Slurping Bird That Terrorizes the Galapagos

THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS are as beautiful as they are unforgiving. Wolf Island, an often brutally dry rock in the archipelago, is ruled by vampires—hordes and hordes of tiny vampires. These are the so-called vampire finches, enterprising critters in a brutal environment that have figured out how to nip at the tail feathers of other birds until they draw blood, somehow without their victim putting up much of a fight. Even though they don’t sparkle or battle werewolves or whatever, they’re marvels among the many marvels that are the famed Darwin’s finches.

Now, these young are defenseless, but why would an adult booby not just swing around and snatch up the tiny vampire? The booby’s got plenty of blood to spare, sure, but you’d imagine it’d rather hang on to it, plus there’s obvious discomfort involved.

It could be that the vampire finches are the veritable Borgs of the Galapagos: resisting them is futile. They swarm in astounding numbers. they outnumber every other finch species on all of the islands combined—so it may be that putting up a fight is simply worthless. Fight off one vampire and others will just take its place like miniature hydras.

Even living in a nice shell won’t save you from the vampire finches. They’re on the lookout for eggs to steal, too. “The birds will put their head down on the ground and lift their feet up and push eggs so the eggs will roll off a cliff and break,” . “And then they go hovering in and sip up all the yolk.”

“And it’s funny,” he added. “As you get one that’s sitting there trying to roll an egg, all of the other ones come around and they're watching, and they're watching, and they're waiting in this little crowd of vampires all waiting for the goods to be spilled. And each one will take his turn and go in there and try to roll the egg.”

Blood and eggs are just two of the many items on the vampire finch’s menu, though. It’s a generalist, also taking seeds and even drinking up the vomit of other birds, because why the hell not. The vampire’s wickedly sharp beak is perfectly adapted for this lifestyle, allowing it to not only pierce flesh but to also open up fruits and drink nectar. It has to be creative on this unforgiving island.