This is the second straight cold season that our south Salem garden has become a winter vacation spot for a flock of pine siskins. This time there are even more than last winter.
The first few arrived in early November. I have never seen one here during their breeding season: June through early September.
They don’t spend all day in our garden. Like all finches, they are nomadic when not nesting. Likely they have several informal dining halls they visit in our part of Salem. In winter they are inconsistent, moving about until they find a good food supply. Perhaps our garden is now in their travel guide?
These siskins breed in the forests of Canada, New England and the western U.S. up to Alaska. Siskins prefer conifer forests and alders. In winter they can appear anywhere in the U.S. except Alaska and Hawaii. Some of “our” birds may be local, having nested or been born last summer in the Cascades or Coast Range. Turns out siskins are unpredictable even when nesting: here today, next year … who knows?
Many other species from osprey to barn swallow tend to be very loyal to a nest site if it is successful for raising young. The same nest, the same corner of the garage. My suspicion with these gorging, gorgeous little guys—they nest near the best food supply at the moment.
These siskins are a close cousin to goldfinches here and in Eurasia, as well as other siskins and serins. All these birds are small, the pine siskin being one of the smallest. An adult siskin is five inches long, has a nine-inch wingspan, and weighs half an ounce. That’s one-fourth as heavy as a tennis ball.
Siskins are rarely alone. They nest in loose colonies, fly in groups, winter in groups. Often they are talking with one another. In spring when the hormones rise and the courtship songs begin, you can hear a buzzy sound that rises in pitch. They are the only American bird to make a sound like that. Otherwise siskins share a rapid, lilting musicality with most other finch species. They also have a typical finch diet: seeds, fruit, a few insects.
Pine siskins have a few traits they don’t share. They are boldly streaked with brown, all over. Mature siskins have a yellow wash on their wings. Most telling, and perhaps most important to survival, siskins are aggressive. Among themselves and towards other birds, some twice as big. Some competing species just left our garden when the siskins took over—easier to find food when the little brown bullies aren’t around.
This site has siskin sounds you can play: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Pine_Siskin/id
For information about upcoming Salem Audubon programs and activities, see www.salemaudubon.org, or Salem Audubon’s Facebook page.
Harry Fuller is an Oregon birder and natural history author of “Freeway Birding” and the newly-published “Birding Harney County.” He is a member of the Salem Audubon Society. Contact him at [email protected] or atowhee.blog. His “Some Fascinating Things About Birds” column appears regularly in Salem Reporter.
A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE– If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE.
Harry Fuller is an Oregon birder and natural history author of three books: “Freeway Birding,” "Great Gray Owls of California, Oregon and Washington," and "San Francisco's Natural History--Sand Dunes to Streetcars." He leads birding trips for the Malheur Field Station. He is a member of the Salem Audubon Society, and leads bird trips locally. Harry has just published a new book, BIrding Harney County.
