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Bird name:

Pine Siskin

Spinus pinus

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Finches (Fringillidae)

Code 4

PISI

Code 6

CARPIN

ITIS

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Breeding Location:

Forests, coniferous, Bushes, shrubs, and thickets



Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Semicolonial



Breeding Population:

Widespread, Abundant



Egg Color:

Green blue with brown and black spots at large end



Number of Eggs:



Incubation Days:



Egg Incubator:

Female



Nest Material:

Bark, moss, feathers, and fur.



Migration:

Migratory



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General

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. Sexes are similar.

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.

Breeding and Nesting

Pine Siskin: Three to five green blue eggs with black and brown spots at large end are laid in a shallow nest made of bark, twigs, and moss. Nest is usually built in a conifer branch 10 to 50 feet above the ground, far out from the trunk. Eggs are incubated for approximately 13 days by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Pine Siskin: Eats seeds of alders, birches, spruce, and other trees; also feeds on thistle and other weed seeds, forbs, buds, insects, and spiders. Attracted to salt licks and salt treated highways in the winter; sometimes drinks sap at drill wells created by sapsuckers; forages in trees and on the ground.

Readily Eats

Suet, Millet, Thistle, Sunflower Seeds (hulled)

Vocalization

Pine Siskin: Song is a husky, twittering warble, rising and falling in pitch and interspersed with a rapid ascending "ZZZzzzzzzzzzrree", which sounds like the equivalent of a bird with a chainsaw.

Similar Species

Pine Siskin: House Finch has a stubbier, thicker bill, longer tail with square tip, and lacks yellow on wings and base of tail. Common Redpoll has a red cap, black chin, and lacks yellow on wings and tail.

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Parts of a Standing bird X
Head Feathers and Markings X
Parts of a Flying bird X