The Harsh, Haunting Music of Pine Siskins
One morning in late January the breezy, rising zhreeeee! calls of Pine Siskins filled the trees in a wooded area of mixed evergreens and bare-limbed oaks and pecans. Among my favorite winter sounds, the Siskins’ calls blended together with the mewing of American Goldfinches, almost sounding like the voices of the trees themselves, swaying in a light, chilly northwest wind. The Siskins were difficult to see – small, grayish-brown streaked birds with a slender shape and small pointed bill, and a subtle touch of yellow in the wings – and their call, too, is like streaks, or several strings played at once, almost harsh in quality, but strangely and hauntingly musical, especially when several are calling together.
This was the first time I had heard or seen Pine Siskins in our neighborhood this winter, though they may have been around and I just hadn’t been out often enough to find them. They stayed around through the end of January, at least. We haven’t put up a finch feeder this year, so they haven’t been conspicuous around our house. These were in another part of the neighborhood, though not far away, and there seemed to be a good many in the trees, but the sun was directly behind them, so I could not see them well enough to count or even see detail – they were just dozens of gray little birds in the trees making this intriguing winter music, and I stood for several minutes, just listening.