cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/4370108

The vampire ground finch (Geospiza difficilis septentrionalis) is a small bird native to the Galápagos Islands. It was considered a very distinct subspecies of the sharp-beaked ground finch endemic to Wolf and Darwin Islands. The vampire finch is sexually dimorphic as typical for its genus, with the males being primarily black and the females grey with brown streaks. It has a lilting song on Wolf, a buzzing song on Darwin, and whistling calls on both islands; only on Wolf, a drawn-out, buzzing call is also uttered. The vampire finches are found only on Wolf and Darwin, the two northernmost islands of the archipelago and remote even by Galápagos standards. Both islands are tiny, each less than a square mile, and are separated from the larger islands by 100 miles of open ocean. 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. They have no specific predators, except for the larger local birds, and a few introduced species of mammals. This bird has a lilting song on Wolf, a buzzing song on Darwin, and whistling calls on both islands; only on Wolf, a drawn-out, buzzing call is also uttered. Here so you can hear this bird too.