Even though I’m sure these have been around our feeders for quite a while, I’m going to claim “lifer” for them. I previously thought they were goldfinches, but recently saw Pine Siskins (probably on Twitter) and realized that these are different.

The Pine Siskin – Carduelis pinus (synonym Spinus pinus) – is about the same size as the American Goldfinch. And like the goldfinches, they seem to prefer the thistle seeds in the socks over the regular feeders with the mixed seeds, although they show up on those feeders as well.  I don’t recall seeing these in previous years, although they were quite possibly there and I just lost them in the crowd of goldfinches. This late winter, however, they’ve shown up in numbers nearly matching those of the goldfinches.

These photos were taken on Feb 12 while some snow was still around. Here the Pine Siskin is either getting something it detected under the snow, or is after the snow itself for hydration.

Notice the small areas of yellow on the bird. This yellow might be brighter in the spring plumage, but there will be no more additional yellow areas. A key difference with goldfinches is the streaking on the bodies – not present in goldfinches.