Of course, this is the island that is featured in Jonathan Heiner's The Beak of the Finch, and the seasonal home of Drs. John and Rosemarie Grant

It's a tough landing, what Jonathan Heiner calls "The Doormat," with a difficult scramble even to that. We had intermittent light drizzle, making the guano-covered rocks slicker than usual. Then it's a steep walk or scramble past the Grants' camp to the rim of the crater. Part of the crater floor has settled about 150 feet more than the rest, with a flat bottom and some Palo Santo plants around the bottom. Every tree had a frigatebird nest in it; some had two. And everything from courtship to eggs to hatchlings to fledglings.

Nesting on the cone outside the crater was divided into zones: Swallow-tailed Gulls around the rim, Masked Boobies on the outside walls and frigatebirds (both species) on the crater floor. Darwin finches everywhere, every one in sight color-banded, as you would expect. A few special treats: a glimpse of a Short-eared Owl, a confused Great Blue Heron, a seriously confused Cattle Egret and a Yellow-crowned Night Heron taking shelter under the Grants' awning.

We had a brief chance to talk with Rosemarie Grant, who was nearly giddy with delight over the rain, the first of the season. Still a British accent, after all those years in New Jersey. She greeted Desiree in English-accented Spanish.

Not everyone gets to visit Daphne. A rare treat and an excellent last stop for the trip. Evolution in action, indeed.