Pine Siskin

Overview

Pine Siskin: Small finch with brown-streaked body. Wings have small patches of yellow and two white wing-bars. Tail is dark, notched, and has small yellow patches. Bill is slender and pointed. Forages on ground and in trees for seeds and insects. Flight is swift and high, travels in compact flocks.

Range and Habitat

Pine Siskin: Breeds from southern Alaska, Mackenzie, Quebec, and Newfoundland south to California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Great Lakes region, and northern New England; wanders southward throughout the U.S. during winter. Preferred habitats include coniferous and deciduous forests, woodlands, parks, alder thickets, and brushy pastures.

INTERESTING FACTS

The name Siskin is derived from its sound or chirp. Thus, this bird’s common name is really “pine chirper.”
The Pine Siskin is the most common of the irruptive "winter finches."
When eating from conifers, it usually hangs upside down from the tips of the trees.
A group of finches has many collective nouns, including a "charm", "company", and "trembling" of finches.

The Pine Siskin has a very large range estimated at roughly 7,800,000 square kilometers. This bird can be found the United States, Mexico, Canada and Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Its preferred habitats include forests and shrublands as well as rural gardens and plantations. The global population of this bird is estimated to be around 22,000,000 individual birds. It is not believed that the population trends for this species will soon approach the minimum levels that could suggest a potential decline in population. Due to this, population trends for the Pine Siskin have a present evaluation level of Least Concern.