[Tweeters] Pine Siskins

[houstojc at plu.edu]

HI Trileigh,

 

Since we are in your neck of the woods, we have been seeing from 2-6 Pine
Siskins in our yard every day.  Sometimes just one.    I have seen larger
groups fly over a few times, but never overwhelming numbers.   Mercifully,
they all seem very healthy.   Mostly, we have quite a few American
Goldfinches, very few but present House Finches, and since January 20 we
have had two male Lesser Goldfinches show up sporadically.   They were here
quite regularly until the end of January, but made  unpredictable
appearances.  It has been fun, though.  One of them showed up in the front
yard for about 30 seconds early this morning.   There was a Merlin perched
in the back yard.. it was quiet after that.

 

Mark and I have  see several large flocks of Siskins in Jack Block Park.
Sometimes 30 or more in a flock.

 

So, that's the Finch report from Gatewood!

 

Janeanne Houston

West Seattle

 

 

 

From: Tweeters <tweeters-bounces at mailman11.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of
Trileigh Tucker
Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2024 11:33 AM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] Pine Siskins

 

Hi Tweets,

 

On Sunday afternoon 2/11, I was walking in my West Seattle neighborhood when
I realized that a small tree ahead of me was full of chattery finches: not
only House Finches and American Goldfinches, but also Pine Siskins. 

 

It's been a long time - months to a year or longer - since I've encountered
a bunch of siskins. They've never been vastly abundant in my yard, but I
seem to remember seeing them more often, usually in small groups.

 

I seem to remember reading on Tweeters about others noticing a lack of
siskins, but a search of the archives doesn't turn up many recent reports.
I'm curious about others' experience; have you noticed a lack followed by
recent sightings? 

 

I did screengrabs of eBird sightings from Dec-Feb for the past 6 years, and
by far the most sightings were recorded this year and in 2020-2021.but I
think there's a chance that that 2020-21 increase in sightings may have been
at least partly due to you-know-what and everyone suddenly home and
available to look for siskins.

 

The Finch Research Network
<https://finchnetwork.org/western-irruption-alert-pine-grosbeaks-cassins-fin
ches-and-others-making-record-movements>  predicted an irruption this year,
with indicators noted as far back as July/August. So it's interesting to see
that that might be showing up now. What have you noticed?

 

Thanks much,

Trileigh

 

 

Trileigh Tucker

Pelly Valley, West Seattle 

 

 

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