the modest birder (2) Pine Siskins, etc.

(Febr. 5, 2009) For the last week or so there have been a lot of Pine Siskins on the feeders (one platform, 2 tubes of which one with nijer only and three large areas on the ground, one of which under the feeders). I first began to pay attention to the Siskins that without binoculars look much like female House Finches. But when there were no male House Finches I looked at them more closely, especially when the DVOC bird alerts reported Pine Siskins all around. They are smaller than House Finches (one male fed next to a Siskin and the difference was pretty clear). The coloring as well, the Siskin's being more clearly defined, virtually "black and white" in comparison with the grayer patterns on the back of the House Finch and the tail is also more distinctly notched. The Siskins are also slightly smaller than the Goldfinches (in whose company they arrived last week and remain most of the time). But the Goldfinches, even in winter have greenish-yellow head colors and, other han the 2 wingbands, no stripes anywhere. I noticed that one or two Siskins are showing some yellow (and they begin to look like the many Siskins we saw at the feeders in Paradise AZ, last April).

When I first identified the Siskins, there were only three among 11 Goldfinches, but after last week's snow the number increased to 9, then to 17 and today, after another bout of snow, there are 23 (with 17 Goldfinches, 9 White-throated and 2 Song Sparrows as well as between 7 and 15 juncos). They all feed together on the ground although the Siskins prefer the tube feeders (and the nijer). The competition for the 6 perches on the nijer tube can be fierce with two, three and even five Siskins fluttering up in the air like a feathery pillar. At first the Siskins appeared timid, moving aside when a Junco or a Sparrow arrived, but today one Siskin in particular was very aggressive, half spreading its wings and turning with wide open beak towards the rival, whether a Sparrow or a Titmouse and they give way. This Siskin was equally aggressive with other Siskins, like "the Bully in the Frathouse."

On the whole the Siskins are a nervous lot and their behaviour makes all the ground feeders, even the placid Mourning Doves more volatile. They "explode" at the dropping of a hat, sometimes rushing in many directions to end up all together in a swarm in the upper stories to the left or the right. Clearly there's no raptor in sight for Carolina Chickadees or Nuthatches continue to feed. More often than not they return after a few minutes. When they fly away for real it's through the lower stories, all together and even when they leave with Goldfinches, I have seen a tight Siskins only flock land in the tops of a hickory on the other side of the creek. There too they don't rest for very long before they go off again. It appears that they make a circuit as they generally come back to feed from the opposite direction in which they left. I noticed that when the Siskins are feeding the Titmice and Chickadees feed away from the crowd, even on the ground under our window.

The arrival of the Siskins as well as the increased number of other ground feeders made me think that one can attract birds after all if they happen to be "dislodged" by drastic weather changes, such as the fronts passing to the North of here and the weekly snow showers that keep the ground covered. Apparently the irruption of Siskins is an "Birding Alert" worthy phenomenon. It also makes it clear to me that I could not possibly have grown enough food for this irruption. As it is I have used 6lbs of nijer as well as 10 of black sunflowers (or a "cardinal mix" of black and gray sunflower and saffron seed) and 5 lbs of a "finch mix" of sunflower hearts and 2 kinds of red and brown millet seeds, in 2 weeks. In fact, last fall 4 Goldfinches regularly came to eat the seeds of the giant cosmos (on approx. 200 sq,ft) every morning and none were left for any winter guests.

On Sunday 22 Febr. there were more than 45 Siskins, though most of the time there are betw, 10 and 20 at one time.

March 9: The Siskins are disappearing pretty much as they arrived. The large numbers of mid-Febr. had gone by March 1 (when we had this winter's major snowstorm with 8.5") and now there are most often 10 or less; they come irregularly to the feeders and often only five or six at a time. Never saw more than 15 thru March and 6-7 by the middle of April.

There was only one after May 1 and that one had no tail and looked bedraggled. A (that?) Siskin reappeared on May 8 looking spic and span and once more on May 16; on May 20 there were even 2, but each time only for one of the times I observed throughout the day (about 5 times). Although I was in my armchair quite a lot, I did not see another Siskin until the morning of June 5; it stayed in the feeder for about 1/2 hour, being chased out one time by a Red-bellied WP, when it went to the birthbath to return to the feeder as soon as the WP had left.

Addendum, 2/26/13: This winter was another Siskin (as well as a Red and White-Winged Crossbill and Evening Grossbeak) irruption year, but none appeared on my feeders. I saw all of these birds in Cape May, at the Hawk Watch as flyovers and in the pines at the dune crossovers.