Pine siskin
| Pine siskin | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Fringillidae |
| Genus: | Spinus |
| Species: | S. pinus |
| Binomial name | |
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Spinus pinus (Wilson, 1810) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Carduelis pinus |
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Carduelis pinus
The pine siskin (Spinus pinus) is a North American bird in the finch family. It is a migratory bird with an extremely sporadic winter range.
These birds are fairly small, being around the same size as the widespread American goldfinch. In both sexes, total length can range from 11–14 cm (4.3–5.5 in), with a wingspan of 18–22 cm (7.1–8.7 in) and weight of 12–18 g (0.42–0.63 oz).
Adults are brown on the upperparts and pale on the underparts, with heavy streaking throughout. They have short forked tails. Their bills are conical like most finches but are more elongated and slender than those of other co-occurring finches. Variably, pine siskins have yellow patches on their wings and tails, which may also consist of white streaks on the wings. Although they can be confused by the more inexperienced for other finches or even American sparrows, pine siskins are distinguished by their heavy streaking, relatively slender bills, notched tail, yellow or whitish patches on the wings and smallish size.
Pine siskin in its typical morph is a drab bird, whereas European siskin (a bird the species does not naturally co-exist with), in many plumages, is much brighter. Adult male European siskins are bright green and yellow with a black cap, and an unstreaked throat and breast; pine siskin does not have a corresponding bright plumage. Adult female European siskins also usually have green and yellow plumage tones: for example, yellow in the supercilium and on the sides of the breast, green tones in the mantle and yellow in the rump. Adult pine siskins of the typical morph do not have green and yellow tones, although juveniles can have a yellowish-buff wash on their underparts and buff-toned wingbars, for a short period prior to their autumn migration. The ground colour of the underparts of European siskin is normally pure white, whereas on pine siskin it is usually a dirtier colour. In female and juvenile European siskin, the centre of the belly and lower breast are often largely or entirely unstreaked, whereas in most pine siskins the streaking extends across the whole of the underparts. The wingbars of European siskin are broad and yellow (with the tips white) whereas they are normally narrower and buffish white in pine siskin, contrasting with the bright yellow flash at the base of the primaries. Pine siskins have a longer bill, usually with a straight culmen, compare with a short bill in European siskin, with a decurved culmen. There is a green morph of pine siskin, closer in appearance to European siskin; these birds make up only 1% of the population. These are closer in appearance to female European siskin, but differ in that they have a yellow-wash on the undertail-coverts (white on European siskin), no yellow in the supercilium, reduced underparts streaking, and much yellow at the base of the tail and remiges; there may also be a difference in the extent of yellow in the underparts but this needs further study.
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Wikipedia