Today a small flock of Northern Pine Siskin is visiting my feeder, mingling within the much larger flock of goldfinch. A finch of northern latitudes (Alaska; Canada), pine siskins visit us here, somewhat unpredictably, mostly during the winter months.
(Photo courtesy of Creative Commons.)
Unlike regularly scheduled visits by migrating birds (for example, warblers in the spring), visits by the pine siskin cannot be reliably tracked. As such, the erratic visits of the pine siskin are known as “irruptions,” which delight birders, because who doesn’t like a pleasant surprise?
Unlike its cousin the American Goldfinch, whose male wears bright yellow breeding plumage, the colors of the pine siskin (even the breeding male) are far from showy. The pine siskin is brown and heavily streaked but for traces of yellow at the base of its flight feathers.
So the next time you see a group of goldfinch at your feeder, take an extra long look—you might be surprised to find their “cousins” are visiting.
Until next time . . . happy birding!
Georgia Anne
2 comments:
Thank you for helping me to identify the birds at our thistle feeder. I Googled images and found your Northern Pine Siskin photo.
You might expect someone in Alaska to recognize birds from the northern latitudes, but I've only recently taken up photography, and suddenly my interest is keen! I'll link to your blog from my http://wordsandimages.timmonswebs.com/ for future reference. Thank you!
Jan
Hi Verbsleuth,
Thanks for posting! I'm learning all the time and am by no means an expert. Today there are so many online sources to help with birding identification, but of course keeping a birding guide close by definitely helps! I particularly like Peterson's guides to birds but also think it's helpful to have a state-specific birding guide, one with actual photographs because these sources are small enough to digest.
And thanks for linking to my Web site. I'll check out yours as well!
Georgia
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