Pine Siskins

I'm slightly animal obsessed. This is no secret to those who have known me for any period of time. But in the realm of animals, birds have always been near and dear to my heart. It began with an interest in tropical birds (above: Wild Scarlet Macaw in Costa Rica) and now living in PA -- I've become more focused on native wild non-tropical birds.

There are some birds that are consistently in PA year after year for particular seasons. For example, the American Goldfinch (right) breeds and lives in PA all year round molting and changing plumage in the winter to a dull musky green. Whereas the White-Crowned Sparrow (below right) just passes through briefly in the late spring. The Rough-legged Hawk hangs out in the winter (and is one of the coolest Buteos!! below the sparrow) and heads north come spring, while the Coopers Hawk (see pict on the top of my blog from Yosemite) hangs out all year round all over the country!

Some species are irruptive - meaning they flock to different geographic locations, in particular years given varying environmental conditions. This year, due to food shortages further north, PA experienced an unusual eruption of 2 particular species of birds. The first - White-winged Crossbills were spotted all over the state (and on campus if you were lucky to catch them!). The second, and my favorite LBSB (little brown streaky bird) is the Pine Siskin. It was said that Siskins (see right and below) turned up in PA like the cross bills due to shortages in seed stocks further north. In previous years these birds were scarce if seen at all, this year, they came en masse - in flocks of 30-50 or more. In the spring, the Siskins foraged in conifers in the forest - and serenaded me on many a cross ride with their cute little cricket like shrill call. Call me a sucker. :)

They were supposed to leave town to breed up north in late spring, but oddly enough some are still here. They disappeared with the Gold and house finches for the past few weeks. But have since re-emerged. House finches with young demanding food... and Siskins, they are difficult to age. I'm convinced I have a small breeding flock frequenting my feeders - which for PA is HIGHLY unusual. It started with just 2 and now i'm up to 10.

This, my friends, (or jackasses if E happens to be reading this) is unusual - and very cool biology & ecology. And possibly a product of global warming as varying environmental conditions modifying food sources thus changing species geographic distribution. a few picts below...

and as always .. to be continued...