This little bird may be inconspicuous in appearance, but it can appear in large enough numbers to draw attention to itself! See if you can catch some bright glints of yellow on its feathers, hinting at its close relation to the American Goldfinch, Spinus tristis.
Do you see the resemblance to the American Goldfinch? Even the black and white wingbars are similar. Adding to the confusion, the two species often flock together in the winter, when the male goldfinch is fully molted into his drab winter plumage.
Here’s a bit more practice telling these relatives apart in winter:
Learn more about pine siskins using any or all of the following resources, according to your preferred learning styles.
No matter which method you choose, you can easily take notes and save them for later using the FREE editable, customizable, downloadable and printable Bird Species Document Creator Activity!
When you feel more familiar with this species, try some or all of these activities:
1. Take the Species Quiz
2. Create & share your own Species Brief
3. Create your own multi-page Species Profile (Patrons only) using the images, audio, and text formatting provided [Learn about becoming a Patron]
4. Fill out one of the species profile spreads in your printed Jo Bird Journal
5. Post the Square2share on social media to see if your friends know this species, and perhaps teach them a bit about it. Teaching SOLIDIFIES learning!
6. Add the Square2share or other images and profiles to a folder on your device or in Google Drive, in order to later test your memory of species you’ve learned
If you’d like to discuss this or other species with fellow bird lovers, or share your photos, observations, or questions, I invite you to do so on the BIRDS: Nature and Science Facebook page, or on the Stream tab of the Google Classroom (class code = qy37ohy).
See you there! <<sound of feathers>>