It has gained fame due to its capability of using a twig, stick, or cactus spine as a tool so it has been nicknamed the carpenter finch.

Cactus spines are produced from specialized structures called areoles, a kind of highly reduced branch.

Egg sticks that resemble cactus spines develop and hatch in 2530 days.

For example, columnar cactus spines grow from the apex of the plant.

A different type allows the bird to use cactus spines to spear insects in the bark of trees.