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
- 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/
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved August 2016)
- Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2016. IOC World Bird Names (version 6.3). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Wilkins's Finch. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 26 December 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Wilkins%27s_Finch
