GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist has written a blog about science since 4 August 2004 (the early years are archived 
tags: Pine Siskin, Carduelis pinus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pine Siskin, Carduelis pinus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 2008 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2008:04:16 08:46:29
Exposure Time: 1/319
F-Number: 5.60
ISO: 320
Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Start at the back, start at the back! We see a short-tailed bird with a long wingtip, and both wing and tail show yellow: simple feather edgings in the wing, but a significant basal patch in the tail. Off the top of my head, I can think of only two North American birds that show such a pattern: Yellow Warbler and Pine Siskin. The streaked undertail coverts rule out the warbler. So is this a Pine Siskin?
A careful look at the wing pattern shows that the yellow feather edgings actually broaden into a patch at the base of the primaries. Otherwise, the generally drab, finely streaked plumage is relieved by only the well-defined whitish wingbars. The face is blank, the eye small, and the bill clearly sharp-pointed, with a perfectly straight culmen (the ridge of the upper mandible). This is a Pine Siskin.
The major confusion species here is not, of course, Yellow Warbler, but another streaky finch, the House Finch. Not all Pine Siskins are as yellow as this individual, and birders unfamiliar with the species often try to make the abundant House Finch into a siskin. House Finch, though, is much muddier in appearance that the relatively neat, if drab, siskin. Its tail is broader and its wings are shorter (logically enough: House Finches are mostly sedentary, while Pine Siskins are given to nomadism). The ground color of the body is brown rather than off-white, and the dark eye is large, giving the bird a distinctly different "face" than the beady-eyed little siskin. House Finches also have large, rather squarish heads, while siskins look like they would buy their hats in the kids' department. And the bill shapes are completely different. Think about it this way: if a siskin wanted to hurt you, it would stab you; if a House Finch was intent on harm, it would bite, putting to good use a thick, hooked bill with a strongly curved culmen.
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Comments
Looks like a pine siskin to me!
Posted by: Lloyd French | October 10, 2008 10:34 AM
Pine siskin all the way. The little bits of yellow point the way, and then the slightly too-pointy-for-house-finch beak seals the deal.
Posted by: John Callender | October 10, 2008 10:52 AM
Pine siskin. I love these guys - the fluctuations in their sightings over the past few winters here in the Northwest has me worried, though.
Posted by: KB | October 10, 2008 1:47 PM
I answer the mystery bird posts without looking at any other sites or guides. In NY I would say pine siskin, assuming AZ has pine siskins and no other similar species I'll also say pine siskin.
Posted by: JPS | October 10, 2008 2:46 PM
I'm going with Pine Siskin.
Posted by: Selasphorus | October 10, 2008 4:05 PM
Me too. Pine Siskin. I hope I'll see some this fall.
Posted by: Spinus | October 10, 2008 6:51 PM
On the surface, it appears to be a pine siskin. However, the bill shape looks interestingly too heavy for siskin - a hybrid of some type. The bird appears crouched and may be ready to spring into flight - is that why it appears 'heavier' than siskins I am familiar with. The primary projection doesn't look long enough but could be the angle. I don't see the distinct auriculars that I would expect on pure siskin.
I would mark this as carduelis sp. not specifically identifed.
Posted by: Tom R | October 10, 2008 10:19 PM
looks like a pine siskind the breast streaking is too much for a yellow rumped warbler in the fall and it has that finch beak
Posted by: birdie | October 10, 2008 11:05 PM
Pine Siskin.
I agree with Tom R that the beak seems too heavy. But, I think if it was closed it would look smaller, similar to the same effect in a swallow.
I wonder where the name Siskin comes from.
Posted by: bobk | October 10, 2008 11:41 PM
Looks like a garden variety Pine Siskin to me.
Posted by: JohnB | October 11, 2008 8:53 AM
i looked around to find the origin of the word, "siskin", and found that it comes from the swedish, "siska", which means "chirper", although my attempts to confirm that have yielded nothing.
Posted by: "GrrlScientist" | October 11, 2008 1:18 PM
The name is probably echoic--it works best in those languages where the cognate begins with a ts or tch sound.
I can't see anything out of the ordinary about this bird's bill shape or wing structure.
Posted by: Rick Wright | October 11, 2008 1:26 PM
I've posted to birdchat a little documentation for the theory advanced above about the word "siskin."
Posted by: Rick Wright | October 11, 2008 3:20 PM
My dictionary gives kvittra for to chirp, but that doesn't mean siska is wrong. Have you asked Martin Rundkvist?
Posted by: Bob O'H | October 11, 2008 3:38 PM
good idea.
Posted by: "GrrlScientist" | October 11, 2008 4:15 PM
I also checked the OED, which is of some help. Here's their etymology:
OK, not much help then.Posted by: Bob O'H | October 12, 2008 8:52 AM
Saw this little bird at my bird feeder today. Tipped upside down as the gold finch's do at the feeder. Anyone else heard of these birds or any others that eat niger seed updside down.
WOuld love some feedback.
Posted by: Elizabeth | May 15, 2009 5:21 PM