This winter pine siskins are visiting Arkansas.
They spend their summers in Canada and the far northern United States, where they nest and breed. But their winters are unpredictable. They may stay up north or “irrupt,” move in an irregular way, to the south when there’s a food shortage in their home range.
This year we’re experiencing a major pine siskin irruption. Siskins come to Arkansas for conifer seeds, but they also love nyjer and sunflower seeds in our feeders. They’re small brown and white birds the size of goldfinches but with striped breasts and perhaps a bit of yellow on the wings or tail.
If you feed birds, be sure to keep your feeders clean, because dirty feeders are a contamination source of several diseases.
For more information about maintaining clean bird feeders, check out this reseouce from Audubon.