Everyone knows the story of Charles Darwin traveling to the Galapagos Islands and discovering different species of finches filling different niches among the islands' differing ecosystems. Not only did they have different coloration and patterns, but their beaks had evolved into perfectly filling those niches. He was a dozen or so species of finch, and correctly assumed that they all shared a common ancestor. It led to his theory of natural selection which provided the bases for our understanding of evolution as we know it today.
However, what most people don't realize, is that Darwin should have stopped in the Hawaiian islands instead. Here he would have found 54 different species of finch, all evolved from one common finch ancestor. Nowadays we are down to just 17 of those 54 species, thanks to the introduction of rats, cats, mongoose, and mosquitos. The surviving endemic finch species are known as honeycreepers, and provide some amazing treasure hunts for modern birders. They are not easy to photograph but here are a few that I've captured on camera recently.
These photos are of the elusive amakihi. The top photo is of the Maui amakihi, which is a slightly different species than the Hawaiian amakihi in the bottom two photos.
This last image is of a scarlet honeycreeper, or I'iwi. The bill is long and curved as it fills the niche of a hummingbird...which there are none of here in Hawaii. Yet it has also evolved from the same finch ancestor as the above amakihi.
Photos taken with a canon 5d mark ii, with a L series 100-400mm lens.
-Dai Mar
