finch

You all know this happened. But there is some controversy over what kind of bird it is. There is no doubt whatsoever that the bird was a finch. However, what kind? Most likely a house finch, because they are common, and the most likely to live in a big auditorium thingie and not be fearful of people. A pic of the bird is above. Here is another: What do you think it is?

In a prior post, we talked about the ambitious Genome 10K project. The goal of the project is to sequence the genome of 10,000 species of vertebrates (~1 species from every genus). I was very excited to see the website recently updated in July to include numerous additional species for which the genome has been or is in the process of being sequenced. The new list even includes the genomic sequence of one of Darwin's Galapagos finches, the medium ground finch (Geospiza fortis) shown in the image below. This is exciting news for a comparative physiologist! Sources: Genome 10K project San…