Pine Siskin
Spinus pinus, Carduelis pinus,
The American Pine Finch, Pine Chirper
This story and photos are from my journal from January 13, 2009. All photos Jay Burney. This group, or "irruption" of Pine Siskins from Winter of 2009, to date, has been the only visitations to Protection Farm during our time here. We look for them daily in the winter months. None came in the winter of 2008, 2010, and as of this date, January 15, 2011, none have been here this winter.
January 13, 2009
On Christmas Day 2009 a bird new to my time at Protection Farm appeared at the feeders. It was a Pine Siskin. It was an unusual looking finch, but an unmistakable bird. Finches share some attributes, notably the beak, which is slimmer than other finches in the sisken, and the notched tail. Males and females of this species are incredibly variable but the males tend to exhibit more yellow. At least thats what some ornithologists insist. For the first ten minutes I looked at its diminutive little body and didn’t see much yellow. It had a non streaked breast- that is it in the photo above. The photo reveals more yellow than I initially saw. Then it turned and gave me a side view of its yellow wing bars and then it opened and stretched its wings revealing brilliant yellow. Within about an hour another one showed up. This one had a distinctively streaked breast. I presumed that the first one exhibiting more yellow was the male and the second one, more streaked,less yellow, was the female. But I honestly dont know.
Natural History Notes
From Wikipedia: True Finches are passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Passeriformes include more than half of all bird species. They are sometimes called "perching birds", or "songbirds". Passerines are one of the most diverse terrestrial verterbrate orders wit over 5,000 identified species. Passerines are roughly twice as species rich as the largest mammal order, the Rodentia. Pine Sisken's, like most finches are predominantly seed eating songbirds.
Pine Siskins breed in coniferous forests of Canada, Alaska, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Great Lakes regions, and northern New England. The species wanders during the winter months with irregular migratory patterns throughout the US. Winter flocks can be quite large.
The nest is built by the female with male help a cup of twigs and grasses from 3-50 feet above the ground far out n a branch of a conifer tree. these birds are social and tend to build nests next to one another, sometimes only a few feet apart. They typically est on horizontal branches in conifirs. 2-6 eggs, incubated constantly by the female, two weeks to hatch. Parents feed by regurgitation. Fledge in 2 weeks. Two clutches per season.
They forage in trees, shrubs and meadows. Diet includes seeds from pines, sweet gum, maple, eucalyptus, alder, birches and spruce. Thistle and insects suchs as caterpillars, grasshoppers, aphids. They help to keep destructive insects under control.
They are known as an “irruptive” species, which means that their populations, tend to change dramatically as conditions dictate. This includes, sudden upsurges or declines according to ecological checks and balances including food, weather, and habitat availability. Although they are common in some areas, especially the northwest US, they have been measured in decline since 1966. They are vulnerable to chemicals, especially agricultural chemicals, and to parasitism by Brown-headed Cowbirds. Forest fragmentation increases Siskin exposure to Cowbirds.
The name "siskin" comes from the chirping sound the bird makes. A common name is “Pine Chirper.”
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Siskin
Cornell, All About Birds: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/pine_siskin/id
McGill Bird Observatory, Migration Research Center-this is a good guide to sexing:
By Jan 13 2009, there are about 15 of these delightful little birds visiting the feeders continuously. There are some very large and very obviously yellow, and less streaked underneath, which may be males, and others, smaller, hardly any yellow visible, with lots of breast streaking, which may be females.
The yellow is very obvious when they spread their wings, which they often do while perching. They are also gregarious, very vocal, and playful. They seem to get along very well with the chickadees, goldfinches, and junco’s. No one seems to get along with the house sparrows which attempt to dominate the feeders when they come in.
Apparently courtship of this species begins in January and February. Perhaps this social behaviour is going on here at Protection Farm. Although I have not observed it, mate finding consists of the male taking food in his bill, flying to the female and giving it to her. There is also a flight display by the male which includes perching close to a female and then flying up high in circles with tail spread and a rapid fluttering flight, singing non stop. He then drops down to perch near the female . He repeats this several times.
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| female? |
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| I didn't get many photos of the tail so that we can see the fork, this is the best i have. |
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