The Beak of the Finch discussion

[Becky]

Please add your comments about this book here.

[Sher]

Hello Everyone-- Has anyone been to the Galapagos Islands? Sher

[Becky]

My nephew has, Sher, though I haven't myself.

[Sher]

Hi Becky- Do you remember what he said about his impressions of the Galapagos? The islands have been on my list for travel for quite some years. And, I really don't like to travel all that much- takes a crow-bar to get me off the farm. But, I read the two volume bio about Darwin by Janet Browne some years back, and I have read excerpts from Voyage of the Beagle, and I have wanted to see a blue footed booby and komodo dragon, and all the birds.

Our book is revolves around one of the little known and very little islands of the Galapagos called Daphne Major.

[Becky]

He loved it, Sher. He's studying biology at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario so it was like the ultimate field trip! The photos he posted on FB were amazing - stunning images of wildlife and it was just incredible how close he could get to the animals there.

[Becky]

He took hundreds of pictures - I will put just a small sampling up in the "Photos" section of this group so that you have an idea of what it looked like. It was an Ecuador / Galapagos Islands combined trip so you will see images from both. Unfortunately, he didn't entitle any of the photos on FB so I'm guessing at some of the animals in terms of species and the like. Please correct me if I need to change some of the names!

To give credit where it's due, the photographer is Jesse Snider (my nephew) - he is pictured with the seal in one of the photos.

[Sher]

Great idea! I can't get over how close he was able to get to the seal. I lived in Alaska for 16 years and was around seals all the time, but never could get that close. Terrific images.

[Beth]

I've looked at airfare for getting to the Galapagos (I've always been interested and I just read the Kurt Vonnegut novel Galapagos and now this) and it was super expensive. It's still somewhere I'd love to go, although Costa Rica is 1/3 the price, so that may be a more viable option. Anyways, just started the book (so happy to have found it at the library) and very excited to keep reading!

[Sher]

Hi Beth: Great- I am so glad you will be reading it too! My best friend went birding in Costa Rica, and she had a fabulous time. Different than Galapagos I think, but still exotic and she was able to see many birds and learn from experienced birders.

[Shawn]

Another bird book?! I feel kind of birded out, but maybe I'll pick this one up anyway.

[Sher]

I am curious if you have been to the Galapagos are the animals and birds as tame as they are depicted in Weiner's book? And is tameness or wariness a trait that evolves--is it an evolutionary trait?

[Sher]

Another question--in our area we have a lot of agriculture going on and there are many people who own horses. We are seeing wheat that is developing a resistance to Round Up herbicide and worms (in horses) that are developing a resistance to the worming medications we use. As I read Weiner's terrific and interesting book, I wonder- are these above things considered evolution? Are these plants are worms evolving to survive despite the onslaught of the chemicals designed to kill them? I've read several biographies about Darwin and I have skimmed Origin of the Species, but I'm a humanities person and not a science type, so I don't know if what I have described above is evolution or ...?

[Sher]

Extraordinary. This work expands upon the two biographies I read recently about Charles Darwin and evolution. Weiner is a fantastic writer. He takes a science subject and makes it understandable and then at the end of science-sections he inserts beautiful almost poetic prose that makes you sigh. The setting is a tiny island called Daphne Major in the Galapago Islands, and the work is about a 21 year finch study conducted by Rosemary and Peter Grant. The Grants have proven that evolution can happen quickly, and that pressure makes species evolve. Interspersed are passages from Darwin's works and also summaries of his thoughts. It's also explained where Darwin's work is incomplete. Other studies are also detailed that deal with different species such as moths and guppies. I had a lot of questions as I read the book, and pretty much all of them were answered by the time I got to the end. Questions like how do pesticides and antibiotics make creatures evolve, and why don't humans show the variations that Daphne Major finches do? How did consciousness evolve? Well, that question isn't answered, but it is addressed. I leave this work looking forward to reading some of Weiner's other works, and I am wondering how species will evolve in response to the pressures of climate change. Plus, can bees evolve and save themselves? Some scientists recommend this route (recent edition of National Geographic) talks about this- though others worry they will go extinct before they can evolve to be mite and pesticide resistant. So much to think about in this book- timely!

[Becky]

Thanks, Sher - that's a great summary!

[Andree]

Sher wrote: "Extraordinary. This work expands upon the two biographies I read recently..."
I should have begun this book but could not put off your butterfly book any longer. And oh! I begin reading and I feel as if you are conversing with me, telling me these bizarre and fantastic butterfly tales. How can I thank you?


Skippers are known for forcibly ejecting their waste, called frass, at great speed, flinging it from their leaf houses for as much as five feet, and as fast as four feet per second. This prevents disease, smell, and an unsightly pileup.

And I have just realized this is not the proper place for this accolade. I don't care. It was on my mind.

[Andree]

Back on topic: we were here at home, my husband and I, discussing the evolution of consciousness because of a silly "science" article he had read. I realized that I hadn't read a thing about it since teen years. I'm looking forward to it.

I became fascinated with Darwin after teaching a short evolution unit to the high schoolers as part of their graduation requirements. It was brief, too brief. But we read passages from his journal and used Google Earth and saw photos of those places now. We looked at videos of the animals he talked about. I went home and watched and read all I could in what little time I had.

And then a miracle! I photographed his moth, right here in Vermont. I was so excited. I had to have ID confirmation because it was simply too fantastic.

So many other fantastic coincidences have happened with my learning and Darwin since then. And I had been saving the finch story for this summer when I can take my time and savor it.

Thank you.