Every day I get more reports of Pine Siskins showing up at someone’s feeder or backyard. It is clear that this winter will be a so-called “invasion year” – a year when many siskins move south into our regions.
Pine Siskins look somewhat like small sparrows but Ken Kaufmann more accurately describes a siskin as looking “Like a goldfinch wearing camouflage.”.
The resemblance is no coincidence. Siskins and North American goldfinches have been moved around taxonomically but it’s generally agreed that they’re all close relatives. If you’re preparing to recognize the Pine Siskin, that’s a useful clue.
Kaufmann also provides the following tips:
When going from place to place, siskins tends to fly high, in flocks, with a buoyant, undulating flight like that of a goldfinch. Most sparrows, whether in flocks or solitary, tend to fly low, with a more labored action.
Siskins often forage high in treetops, feeding on seeds of conifers and other trees. Sparrows seldom do this. When siskins are in weedy fields, as often happens in winter, they clamber about on top of sunflowers, cockleburs, and other plants. Sparrows are more likely to forage on the ground below.
Finally, if we approach sparrows too closely, they usually dive into cover. If we approach a Pine Siskin, it’s likely to look up with a bored expression and go on eating. Although fearless behavior is not a foolproof field mark, it is a surprisingly frequent siskin trait.
As we might expect for social birds of similar habits, siskins often associate with American or Lesser Goldfinches. Many a birder has seen his or her lifer Pine Siskin outside the window, in a goldfinch flock, on a feeder. Direct comparison makes it easy to see that the birds are similar in overall shape, compact and short-tailed, but the siskin’s bill is distinctively narrow and fine-pointed.
Keep your eyes open for this winter visitor
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