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Wilkins's Finch - BirdForum Opus

Alternative names: Grosbeak Bunting; Big-billed Finch; Big-billed Bunting

Nesospiza wilkinsi

Identification

20-22 cm. A large finch with a heavy and deep-based bill.

  • Olive-green plumage
  • Yellowish supercilium, throat and upper breast
  • Grey lores and area around the eye
  • Slate-grey bill with whitish base to lower mandible
  • Grey-brown legs

Females are duller, slightly more streaked and slightly smaller than males.
Juveniles and immatures similar to females but buffy brown and more heavily streaked.

Similar species

Much larger than Nightingale Finch and with much larger bill.

Distribution

Endemic to Nightingale Island (and if dunnei is included on Inaccessible Island)in the Tristan da Cunha Archipelago, in the South Atlantic Ocean.

Taxonomy

Clements recognizes two subspecies:

  • N. w. dunnei on Inaccessible Island (south Atlantic Ocean)
  • N. w. wilkinsi on Nightingale Island (south Atlantic Ocean)

Gill and Donsker and Howard and Moore regard this species as monotypic and include dunnei in Nightingale Finch.

Habitat

Temperate shrubland and subantarctic grassland.

Behaviour

Diet

Feeds on Phylica fruit and seeds, takes also small invertebrates.

Breeding

Not well known. Breeding recorded from November to January, but adults territorial from September to March. Lays 1 to 2 eggs.

Movements

A resident species.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved August 2016)
  3. Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2016. IOC World Bird Names (version 6.3). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.

Recommended Citation

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