Birds
Wilkins's Bunting
Nesospiza wilkinsi
Cracking open seeds too tough for almost any other songbird, Wilkins’s bunting carries one of the largest bills relative to body size of any bird in its family, found nowhere on Earth but a single remote South Atlantic island.
Overview
Wilkins’s bunting, Nesospiza wilkinsi, is a Vulnerable bird endemic to forest and grassland habitat found only on Inaccessible Island in the South Atlantic. Its extraordinarily oversized bill, its role in an unusual adaptive radiation among Tristan bunting species, and its total dependence on a single tree species make it one of the more evolutionarily fascinating songbirds found anywhere in the world.
A bill built for one job
Evolution has pushed Wilkins’s bunting’s bill to an extreme rarely seen among songbirds, an adaptation so specialised for cracking one type of tough seed that the species’ entire survival now rests on the health of a single tree species on a single island.
Status
Vulnerable, with a population confined entirely to Inaccessible Island and considered stable but inherently precarious given its complete dependence on one island and one food source.
Wilkins's Bunting: common questions
Why does Wilkins's bunting have such a large bill?
This species has one of the largest bills relative to body size of any songbird, an adaptation specifically suited to cracking open the unusually tough seeds of the Phylica tree.
Is Wilkins's bunting compared to Darwin's finches?
Yes, this species is part of an unusual adaptive radiation of bill sizes among closely related Tristan bunting species, a pattern often compared to the famous finches of the Galapagos Islands.
Where is Wilkins's bunting found?
This species is found only on Inaccessible Island in the Tristan da Cunha group, found nowhere else in the world.
Why is Wilkins's bunting considered vulnerable despite a stable population?
This species depends heavily on the seeds of a single tree species on a single island, a level of dependence that leaves it inherently vulnerable even while current numbers remain stable.