My siblings and I all made it to Colorado safely late yesterday, and we drove up into the mountains this morning for a day of skiing. Luckily, there was still plenty of light left after the lifts stopped running, so I had time to look around for local critters before supper. In the past, I have had some luck with this, even though I hadn’t brought my camera, but since I did schlep it along this time, you know what happened. I could hardly find a bird, of course.
So, here’s the one bird I did find that also let me take a picture, and it’s a pine siskin, which we have seen from time to time in Estabrook Park, but I only managed a picture once before, and it wasn’t very good. Thankfully, today’s siskin seemed content as it sang it’s soft little song, let me creep slowly closer and closer, and granted us this portrait.
You might be thinking, “that looks just like the female house finches we see by the pond in Estabrook when it’s cold out,” and you’d be right, I believe, except for one detail. Siskins have a sharp, pointy beak that looks nothing like the hefty seed husker that the house finches wield. I read that siskins prefer “smaller seeds without tough shells like thistle and oil sunflower, but they will scavenge fragments of larger seeds left by heavier-billed birds.” Happily, today’s subject was even kind enough to turn its head so we could have a better look at that bill.
I hope my luck tomorrow is as good.
Signs of Life in Estabrook Park 