Pine Siskin
Spinus pinus

f5 @ 1/5000s, ISO:2000, Nikon D3S w 500mm


"Pine Siskin," Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The pine siskin 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.
Ash Canyon, Sierra Vista, Arizona
 
04/26/2018