The air just outside my window in Seattle is filled with the chatter of Pine Siskins, punctuated at times by ascending, zipper-like zreeEEE! calls. Tight flocks of up to 75 Siskins fly between trees and feeders. Then they descend and feed with determination and persistence. Following several years of Pine Siskin scarcity in the Pacific Northwest, they are back with a vengeance!
These small brown-streaked finches with yellowish wings are most closely related to Common Redpolls and the American Goldfinch. They have a fine bill and a forked tail. Pine Siskins chatter constantly.
As their name suggests, Pine Siskins are often associated with coniferous or evergreen forests. Being adaptable, they are also frequently found in deciduous trees like the Sweet Gum Trees in our front yard. You can find them – often hanging upside down – as they feed on seeds in trees.
It is not unusual for local populations of Pine Siskins to ebb and flow. The irruption that is underway now is a term for “the mass movement of typically non-migratory birds,” according to the Handbook of Bird Biology by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Pine Siskins are nomads of North America. They follow seed crops throughout the continental U.S. and southern Canada in the winter, and breed in the northern Boreal forests of Canada in the summer.
Denizens of colder climates of North America, Pine Siskins have developed strategies to survive sub-zero temperatures. One is their ability to increase their metabolism to help get through cold nights. In addition, they can store extra seeds in their crop which enable them to obtain much-needed calories in the dead and cold of a winter’s night.
You can get close to Pine Siskins; they are quite tame. If you go outside and sit quietly in a forested area or near feeders, they will come to within three feet of you. They have a higher tolerance of human movement than most other bird species. Yesterday I got to within two feet of several siskins on a feeder while carrying a large metal extension ladder before they finally decided to fly away.
Although Pine Siskins are considered common, they are part of a disturbing trend that was noted in the 2014 State of the Birds Report. Pine Siskins were among the 33 species of “Common Birds in Steep Decline” listed in this report.
For now, if you live in North America and visit evergreen forests or put out feeders with Sunflower or Niger Thistle seeds in them, you are likely to have large flocks of these gregarious, vocal birds in your midst. They provide us with yet another reason to conserve our trees and forests.
Sources:
- All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology website
- Handbook of Bird Biology, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- National Geographic Birds of North America website
- The State of the Birds 2014, U.S. Committee of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative—a 23-member partnership of government agencies and organizations dedicated to advancing bird conservation.
