My Year of Darwin 5/28/2014: Darwin's Mockingbirds?

 

" My attention was first thoroughly aroused by comparing together the numerous specimens, shot by myself and several other parties on board, of the mocking-thrushes, when, to my astonishment, I discovered that all those from Clarles Island belonged to one species (Mimus trifasciatus) all from Albemarle Island to M. parvulus; and all from Hames and Chatham Islands (between which two other islands are situated, as connecting links) belonged to M. melanotis. These two latter species are closely allied, and would by some ornithologists be considered as only well-marked races or varieties; but the Mimus trifasciatus is very distinct. Unfotuntely most of the specimens of the finch tribe were minged together" Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle

There were two groups groups of birds that were important to Darwin and his development of natural selection: the finches and the mockingbirds. Each of these groups were important for different reasons. The finches show how one ancestral species can evolve into different phenotypes - various shapes. By his own admission, he did not carefully document locations of finches. Mind you, he was essential an early twenty-something fresh out of college, we could probably cut him some slack. The mockingbirds show the importance of geographic separation in the formation of species. 

Hopefully banding falcon chicks today... pictures to follow