Eurasian siskin, male (Spinus spinus)-5807

The Eurasian siskin (Spinus spinus) is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is also called the European siskin, common siskin or just siskin. Other (archaic) names include black-headed goldfinch, barley bird and aberdevine. It is very common throughout Europe and Asia. It is found in forested areas, both coniferous and mixed woodland where it feeds on seeds of all kinds, especially of alder and conifers.

It can be distinguished from other similar finches by the color of the plumage. The upper parts are greyish green and the under parts grey-streaked white. Its wings are black with a conspicuous yellow wing bar, and the tail is black with yellow sides. The male has a mainly yellow face and breast, with a neat black cap. Female and young birds have a greyish green head and no cap. It is a trusting, sociable and active bird. The song of this bird is a pleasant mix of twitters and trills. For these reasons it is often raised in captivity.

These birds have an unusual migration pattern as every few years in winter they migrate southwards in large numbers. The reasons for this behaviour are not known but may be related to climatic factors and above all the availability of food. In this way overwintering populations can thrive where food is abundant. This small finch is an acrobatic feeder, often hanging upside-down like a tit. It will visit garden bird feeding stations.

This bird may have reached America either from Asia or from Europe (Greenland/Iceland). It is the extant parental species of one of the Spinus/Carduelis three evolutive North American radiations of atriceps, pinus and dominicenses finches. It has been recorded both in the Aleutian Islands and the East: the Labrador Peninsula and St. Lawrence River mouth (Canada). This raises the possibility that this bird entered (or may still try to enter) America through Greenland/Iceland from Western Europe.

For more information, please visit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_siskin

Taken on: December 23, 2018

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Camera: Nikon D500, f/5.6, 1/250 sec, 500mm (=750mm), ISO 250 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D500
Lens:	500.0 mm f/5.6
Aperture:	f/5.6
Exposure Time:	0.004 sec (1/250)
Focal Length:	500mm (35mm equivalent: 750mm)
ISO:	250
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	On, Return detected
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 8.1 (Windows)
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