This was the answer I penned which I thought might be worth putting here for future reference…
To elaborate slightly on previous answers…there are 13 different sub-species of Darwin’s Finch. Each pertains to a particular island in the Galapagos archipelago. That is to say that the same bird evolved subtly different characteristics depending on the local conditions of their island habitat. Where the main food source was a form of nut, they evolved stronger beaks for insects, longer beaks. That sort of thing.
If you go to the Galapagos what you actually see are lots of little brown birds, like a house sparrow. Not at first sight the most interesting bird in the sky. Far from it. It was the same for Darwin who frankly went hunting on the islands. It was only much later in life that he returned to the specimens he had gathered as a young man in the Galapagos and noticed the differences between the finches and between the shells of the giant tortoises and started to really work though his theory of evolution.
In short, those little brown birds don’t look like much but are fundamental to the development of evolutionary theory.
If you are interested in joining us on a Galapagos cruise, get in touch!