Educate Yourself About the Pine Siskin and Other Siskins
Pine Siskin
The Pine Siskin has a thin, sharply pointed bill, heavily streaked underside, small dark rump, yellow at the base of the tail (is not always visible), yellow wing stripe (only on the male), pointed wings, and a short notched tail. Its length is 4-5in (11-13cm) Its wingspan is 9in (23cm) Its voice is a loud call of “clee-ip” or “tit-i-tit”. Their eggs are blue with black or brown flecks around the large end, with 1 clutch consisting of 3-4 or (2-6) eggs. The female incubates for about 13 days, and fledging time is around 14-15 days. Both male and female feed their young. Male and female look alike.
The Pine Siskin is easy to confuse with a female house finch, but when they open their wings you can see patches of yellow on each wing, and also on the base of the tail. In most of the United States the Pine Siskins are “winter finches”, to all you bird feeders and watchers, but they can be found regularly wherever spruce-fir forests are, from New England, Canada, Alaska, and western mountains through out the year.
The calcium chloride that is spread on highways during icy winter months, has a certain attraction to the Pine Siskin witch can sadly enough cause an untimely death for these little energetic birds. Sometimes you can find them pecking at salt blocks if available witch are a much safer choice for them.
You will find, once they visit your lovely bird feeding garden, anywhere from a few ones up to 30, that they are unusually tame little bird, and you can actually walk right up to, without them making a flinch. If you ever wanted to try to hand feed a bird, this would be your best first choice. You can learn more about hand feeding in our section on WHO IS
When seed crops are low and food is scares, they will leave their regular range, and move more southward where they can find a more abundant food supply. But more often they will stay in their coniferous habitat all year long. The Pine Siskin often feed hanging upside down, extracting seeds from the cone, by using their sharp bills. They love to feed on seeds from spruce, alder, Sweetgum, birch, and other trees. They also like to feast on nectar from Eucalyptus, buds from elm, seeds of thistle, ragweed, and other weeds. Some insects such as aphids, caterpillars, flies and other little pests are a nice addition to their diet.
The female will build a bulky nest made out of twigs, grass, and lichens, and line it with moss, fine grass, and sometimes fur, if she can find it. Both the male and female will develop a pair of throat pouches witch is there for them to store food in, and deliver food to their little young ones. The male will bring food for the female as she incubates, and will do so when they are courting as well.
If you like to attract the Pine Siskin to your lovely bird feeding garden, leave a patch of weeds, such as lamb’s quarters, pigweed, common ragweed, and or goldenrod. In your backyard you can plant trees like alders, birch, spruce, and Sweetgum. Fill your hanging bird feeders and bird tables with nyger seeds (a special tube feeder is available), hulled sunflower seeds, and ground oyster or clam shells. You can get the finely crushed clam or oyster shells at your local feed store, and make a mixture of 10% crushed shells, and mix it into your total mix.
