woodpecker finch Camarhynchus pallidus

A drab Galápagos finch with a stretched-out-looking bill. It has tan upperparts and pale whitish or yellowish underparts that may have a small amount of streaking. A small number of birds on San Cristóbal have dark hoods. Stout and elongated bill is pure black on breeding male, partly black on non-breeding male, and pale orange on female. Best identified by bill shape and behavior. It creeps along branches peering around for and probing into cavities, and it sometimes taps like a woodpecker. One of very few tool-using animals, it uses twigs and thorns to extract prey from holes in branches. Found on most islands but absent from Española, Genovesa, Marchena, Pinta, Darwin, and Wolf.