Pine Siskin

Pine Siskins are cute little finches that we haven't seen in our yard until just a couple of weeks ago. The first time we saw one, actually, was on our trip to New Brunswick last September. The bottom picture above was taken on the deck of our cottage we were staying at in Fundy National Park. They are not particularly fearful, which is why we were able to take a picture standing just a couple of feet away.

We didn't see any Pine Siskins at all last winter. But this winter, starting a few weeks ago, we've seen them almost daily, eating the niger seed along with the goldfinches and redpolls. The Pine Siskin is an irruptive species, meaning that in some winters they will be numerous at a given location, while other winters they may not show up at all. Their movements in winter are thought to be driven by food supplies, so when their normal food sources are limited they move further south to more plentiful supplies. Apparently this year is one of the best years in the last decade for Pine Siskins. Today we saw more than 10 at the niger seed bags. The top picture above shows a few of them along with some American Goldfinches.

-posted by Dave-