"November 17, 1882, I found them everywhere along the Whitewater River bottoms in countless numbers. Roadsides, fencerows, weedy banks and thickets, corn and stubble fields, all were alive with their fluttering wings, while the crackling of weed seeds and their peculiar note added voice to the scene. They were present in great numbers throughout the winter." Thus did Butler describe an abundance of pine siskins at a site near Brookville (Franklin County). We too have had the pleasure of experiencing a winter—1977-1978—when siskins for some reason were unusually plentiful.
Butler reported the pine siskin as a more or less regular winter migrant and rare winter resident. It sometimes was abundant and occasionally associated with American goldfinches in winter and with purple finches in spring. The pine siskin is currently an irregular migrant and winter resident throughout the state, but usually most numerous in the northern two-thirds. At a given locality, it may be absent or abundant from year to year. More than one hundred have been found on Christmas bird counts at Fort Wayne, Grant County, Indiana Dunes, Indianapolis, South Bend, and southeastern LaPorte County. There were 206 at the latter site on December 31, 1977, and 245 at South Bend on December 27, 1981.
Pine siskins are usually found in old fields where weed seeds are plentiful with American goldfinches and other seed-eating birds. They are also attracted to bird feeders, especially to thistle (niger) seed; in some winters it appears that most of the wintering population is sustained mainly by feeders.
During the autumn migration pine siskins begin to appear in Indiana the last week of September, the earliest date being the 24th. On October 9, 1919, Herbert L. Stoddard observed "many thousands" in Porter County and Ted T. Cable found a flock of 1,000 there on November 1, 1980. Birds linger into May, and even June, from time to time, and in the summer of 1978 some siskins remained and nested. There are a handful of sightings for June and July for the years 1966 to 1982, but in general most have departed by June 1. Smaller numbers are generally reported in the spring than in the fall.
During the winter of 1977-78, pine siskins appeared at bird feeders nearly everywhere. A hundred came to a feeder in Porter County and seventy to a feeder in Tippecanoe County. Many of these lingered through May, 1978. On all-day counts at sixteen localities throughout the state, 442 pine siskins were observed on May 13. Mr. and Mrs. John D. Goodman (1978) saw siskins carrying nesting material at Anderson (Madison County) on March 27. Eggs were later deposited in this nest, which was destroyed. This was the first nesting record of the pine siskin for Indiana. Reports were received of other siskin nests, five of which were found at West Lafayette (Weeks and Mumford, 1981). By the end of the breeding season there were nesting records for Lake, Madison, Marion, Tippecanoe, and Wayne Counties. In addition, birds were seen transporting nesting material or nests were partially built in Delaware, Monroe, and Porter Counties. We have no doubt that siskins nested in other places during that season.
The eight nests found were all in conifers (pines and spruces) in residential areas. One nest contained three eggs on April 27; another held 3 newly hatched young and one egg on May 12. Three nests each contained three young the first half of May.
Winter foods of the pine siskin (in addition to thistle seed) include seeds of sweet gum, white birch, jack pine, arborvitae, hemlock, box elder, tulip tree, "locust," wild sunflower, evening primrose, and aster. Siskins frequently eat dandelion seeds in spring.
Depicted tree: American larch, Tamarack (Larix laricina)
[Refer to Occurrence Chart to see when each species is likely to be at its height of abundance in the state.]
Created: 12 January 1999, JAF
Updated: 14 March 2000, LAC
Comments or suggestions?
URL: http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/birds/bird348_1.html
Copyright: © 1984 by Indiana University Press
Paintings from the book, The Birds of Indiana, published by Indiana University Press, Bloomington, Indiana (1-800-842-6796).