Carduelis spinus - Siskin

Taxonomy

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Passeriformes

Family: Fringillidae

This member of the finch family might possibly be mistaken for a Greenfinch, except for the fact that the Siskin is smaller and has such a distinctive pair of yellow bars on each wing. The Siskin pictured here is a male, with the almost black crown and small patch under the chin; the female is not so bright and is noticeably brown-striped on the head and under the chin.

Many Siskins are winter visitors; however, there is also a resident population, particularly in the north of Britain. They generally nest in fir trees, building from twigs, grass, moss, hair, feathers and wool. The four or five eggs in a clutch, laid in April, May or June, are bluish-white with lilac and brown spots.

Siskins eat seeds and small insects, and they will readily come to bird tables in quiet gardens.

Garden Birds... Robin Magpie Chaffinch Bullfinch Siskin Mistle Thrush Fieldfare Goldfinch Jay Nuthatch Dunnock Blue Tit Redwing Rook Wheatear Great tit Yellowhammer Blackbird Brambling Coal Tit Jackdaw Pied Wagtail Great-spotted Woodpecker Willow Warbler Carrion Crow Lapwing The Aviary

Water Birds... Canada Goose Coot Cormorant Dipper Fulmar Gannet Guillemot Grey Wagtail Heron Kingfisher Mallard Moorhen Mute Swan Puffin Razorbill Reed Warbler Shelduck The Aviary

Countryside Birds... Buzzard Chough Common Sandpiper Common Snipe Dunlin Long-tailed Tit Swift Short-eared Owl Golden Plover Hooded Crow Raven Rook Peregrine Falcon Pied Flycatcher Sparrowhawk Swallow Red Kite Redstart Stonechat Tawny Owl Wren Barn Owl The Aviary

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