Photo: Pine Siskin (by Yipp)
It has been a year or so since many of us have seen any Pine
Siskins visiting the backyard feeders. In the last month we have received
reports of these little finches returning to the area. The reports have been
from Parksville, Nanoose Bay , Westwood
Lake and Lost
Lake area in Nanaimo .
One of the reasons as to why we have not seen any Pine
Siskins around is that these birds are known as an irruptive species, meaning
they move to where the food is. One possible reason as to why irruptions occur
is to allow the food supply to replenish in one area while the bird’s feed
somewhere else. With the Pine Siskin they move eastward and not south to find
other food before returning to the west and their cycle roughly happens ever
two to four years.
Siskins do everything in a colony, so an easy way to
describe the Pine Siskin is a large flock of birds, any where from 10 to 100,
that all arrive at the same time and constantly argue about who is where on the
feeder. The Pine Siskins are part of the finch family and are similar in size
and shape to the American Goldfinch, at about 5 to 6 inches long. They have a
slender bill, different from the House and Purple Finches that have a heavy
conical bill. There is little colour to identify them, with only a little
yellow on the wings that sometimes looks white. The rest of the body is a
gray-brown, streaky body. Other birds that look similar to the Pine Siskin are
the female House Finch, which you can check the bill to tell the difference,
and the American Goldfinch in its winter plumage which has no streaking on the
chest and underside of the bird like the Pine Siskin does.
Attracting Pine Siskins and finches to your backyard can be
done with their preferred seeds of, sunflower chip, black oil sunflower and
nyjer seed. Although a majority of birds prefer the black oil sunflower seed,
you may notice them tossing a lot of the seed away. To be efficient birds weigh
each seed and take only the ones that are heavy in weight and will provide the
most energy, instead of opening empty seeds and wasting energy. Also Pine
Siskins have a fine bill that is not as strong as other finches, so they sort
through more seeds to find ones they can open. To help the birds open more
seeds and waste less, pre-crack the black oil sunflower seeds before putting it
I your feeder. Another option is sunflower chip that has no shell, just seed
for the birds to eat. For the Pine Siskins and the American Gold Finch I find
that they prefer the fine sunflower chip over the course sunflower chip.
Pine Siskins do everything in a colony from nesting,
feeding, traveling and also lots of squabbling. A problem common to birds that
move in a colony is disease. As the birds are so close to each other diseases
can pass through colony quickly. The best way to help prevent disease around your
bird feeders and water supplies is to clean your feeders regularly, at least
once a month. A bleach solution of 1 part bleach to 9 parts water is a good all
round cleaner for you bird feeders and bird baths. Also clean up any seed that
is under the feeders weekly and move the feeder’s location periodically so the
disease is not concentrated in one location.
The return of the Pine Siskin will add some winter colour
and a lot of activity to the already busy backyard feeders.
Happy birding!!
