Geospiza septentrionalis
Silhouette: Ryan Cupo · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The Vampire ground finch (Geospiza septentrionalis) or Vampire finch is a small bird native to the Galápagos Islands. A member of the Darwin's finches group, it is known for its unique parasitic behavior of feeding on the blood of other birds. It is endemic to Wolf and Darwin Island. The species was previously considered a very distinct subspecies of the sharp-beaked ground finch (Geospiza difficilis), but the International Ornithologists' Union has split the species based on strong genetic evidence that they are not closely related, and divergences in morphology and song.
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 along with a drawn-out, buzzing call on Wolf, a buzzing song on Darwin, and whistling calls on both islands.
This bird is most famous for its unusual diet. When alternative sources are scarce, the vampire finch occasionally feeds by drinking the blood of other birds, chiefly the Nazca and blue-footed boobies, pecking at their skin with their sharp beaks until blood is drawn. This behaviour may have evolved as a symbiotic... Wikipedia →
Song0:15
Ecuador · 2023
© Dušan M. Brinkhuizen · XC813992 · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Galápagos Islands | 🇪🇨 Ecuador |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Vampire Ground-Finch sighting in Galápagos Islands on a given day, based on 38 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 94th most-seen of the 114 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Vampire Ground-Finch in Galápagos Islands on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Vampire Ground-Finch sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is seen both by day and at night.
Only Galápagos Islands, in our data
Galápagos Islands is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Vampire Ground-Finch sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same genus: Geospiza
The closest relatives of the Vampire Ground-Finch that you can see in Galápagos Islands (genus Geospiza, Ground-Finches and Cactus-Finches) are Small Ground-Finch (about 70%), Medium Ground-Finch (about 50%) and Common Cactus-Finch (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Vampire Ground-Finch is recorded against all the birds logged in Galápagos Islands (38 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
