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Eurasian Siskin (Spinus spinus) Alternate name(s): "European Siskin", "Common Siskin", "Siskin" German name(s): "Zeisig" Size: 11-12.5 cm; wing span 20-23 cm Body mass: 10-18 g Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.12-0.18

Europe: Family Group 24 Family Group 24 Table White Wagtail Western Yellow Wagtail Grey Wagtail Tawny Pipit Berthelot's Pipit Red-throated Pipit Tree Pipit Meadow Pipit Water Pipit Eurasian Rock Pipit Greater Short-toed Lark Calandra Lark Woodlark Eurasian Skylark Bearded Reedling House Sparrow Tree Sparrow Spanish Sparrow Rock Sparrow Trumpeter Finch European Serin Atlantic Canary Red-fronted Serin Eurasian Siskin Common Redpoll Arctic Redpoll Twite Common Linnet Brambling Common Chaffinch European Goldfinch Eurasian Bullfinch Hawfinch Common Crossbill Common Rosefinch Yellowhammer Cirl Bunting Common Reed Bunting Little Bunting Ortolan Bunting Black-headed Bunting Corn Bunting Rock Bunting House Bunting Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names European birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Eurasian Siskins are very small finches. Their highly cryptic plumage is dimorphic, i.e. males and females are different. Male Eurasian Siskins have a black frons, crown and chin, while the rest of the head is yellow, with greyish-yellow ear coverts. The nape of the neck olive-grey; the mantle and wing coverts are olive-grey, streaked with darker grey. The chest is yellow, while the belly, vent and undertail coverts are light-grey, streaked heavily with darker grey. The wings, which show a prominent yellow bar, have dark-grey flight feathers with narrow olive-green leading edges. The tail is also dark-grey. Females are much more inconspicuous than males. They have only an indistinct yellowish wing bar. Their frons, crown and chin are ash-grey (the crown is streaked with darker grey). Apart from a faint olive breast patch the rest of the front is light-grey with heavy dark-grey streaking. The back is olive-grey with dark-grey streaking. Otherwise their wings and tail are similar to those of males. The irises of both sexes are black. The short, but strong bill is grey, with a somewhat darker tip. Legs and feet are greyish-pink. Juvenile birds have plainer colours yet than females (no yellow on head, rump and wing panels).

Taxonomy, classification See Eurasian Siskin at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Eurasian Siskin is available HERE . There are two distinct, separate populations of Eurasian Siskins, one in Europe and western Asia, the other in far eastern Asia. Despite their disjointed global distribution, all Eurasian Siskins belong to the same race. The western Eurasian population are permanent residents on the British Isles and in central and eastern Europe (North of the Alps and East of the river Rhine) to southern coastal Scandinavia, as far East as just beyond the western border of Russia. Apart from the major mountain ranges (Pyrenees, Alps, Balkans, High Tatra, Caucasus) everywhere else in Europe, the Mediterranean islands, Asia Minor, parts of the coastline of Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, the Nile delta, north-western coastal Africa and around the western side of the Caspian Sea they are winter visitors. During the summer they extend their breeding range into all of Scandinavia (except the northernmost coastal fringe) and western Asia. The far-eastern population breeds in south-eastern Russia and north-eastern China and the islands to the North of Hokkaido, while they spend the winters Japan from Hokkaido southwards, the Korean peninsula and eastern and south-eastern China, including Taiwan. In continental Europe Eurasian Siskins are resident anywhere in the central parts eastward of the river Rhine, while they are winter visitors anywhere to the West of the Rhine, and southward, from the Benelux countries through France and all around the Mediterranean, but also in most of south-eastern Europe. Eurasian Siskins are found mostly in forested areas, both coniferous and mixed, including the forested parts of the major mountain ranges within their range. They have a strong preference for the seeds of various conifers, but will take other seeds, of grasses and shrubs, but most importantly of birch, as well.

Sightings Click here for sighting information D. Wilczynska reports spotting a pair of Eurasian Siskins in Ostrow Mazowiecka, Masovia, Poland, in January 2016. A. Sarok reports finding a Eurasian Siskin near Temerin, Vojvodina, Serbia, in November 2016. Others were spotted in Vojvodina, Serbia, in the timeframe 2010-2024. M. Eaton reports finding a family of Eurasian Siskins near Oslo airport, Oslo, Norway, in June 2018. J. Pires reports occasionally finding Eurasian Siskins in Mora, Evora, Portugal. They have also been found in Aguas de Moura, Palmela, Setubal, Portugal, in January 2021 and in Ria Formosa, Quinta de Marim, Olhao, Algarve, Portugal, in November 2021. S. Cuturilov reports netting, ringing and releasing Eurasian Siskins at Vlasina Lake, Serbia, in October 2019. G. Normand reports that Eurasian Siskins are commonly found in large parts of France.

Photos

ADULT

MALE

Frontal/ventral view of a male Eurasian Siskin; note the black cap (photo courtesy of G. Normand)
[Meaux, Hauts-de-France, France, March 2021]

Near-lateral view of a male Eurasian Siskin on the ground (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Ostrow Mazowiecka, Masovia, Poland, January 2016]

Lateral view of a male Eurasian Siskin (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near Oslo airport, Oslo, Norway, June 2018]

Lateral view of a male Eurasian Siskin (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, November 2015]

Lateral view of a male Eurasian Siskin (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Quinta de Marim, Olhao, Algarve, Portugal, November 2021]

Close-up lateral view of a male Eurasian Siskin (photo courtesy of S. Cuturilov)
[Vlasina Lake, Serbia, October 2019]

Near-dorsal view of a male Eurasian Siskin (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near Oslo airport, Oslo, Norway, June 2018]

Near-dorsal view of a male Eurasian Siskin (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near Oslo airport, Oslo, Norway, June 2018]

Near-dorsal view of a male Eurasian Siskin on the ground (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Ostrow Mazowiecka, Masovia, Poland, January 2016]

Dorsal view of a male Eurasian Siskin (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Quinta de Marim, Olhao, Algarve, Portugal, November 2021]

FEMALE

Frontal view of a female Eurasian Siskin (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, February 2016]

Near-frontal view of a female Eurasian Siskin (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Aguas de Moura, Palmela, Setubal, Portugal, January 2021]

Near-frontal view of a female Eurasian Siskin (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Aguas de Moura, Palmela, Setubal, Portugal, January 2021]

Near-frontal view of a female Eurasian Siskin (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Ostrow Mazowiecka, Masovia, Poland, January 2016]

Close-up lateral view of a female Eurasian Siskin (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near Oslo airport, Oslo, Norway, June 2018]

Lateral view of a female Eurasian Siskin (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Ostrow Mazowiecka, Masovia, Poland, January 2016]

Close-up lateral view of a female Eurasian Siskin (photo courtesy of S. Cuturilov)
[Vlasina Lake, Serbia, October 2019]

View onto the upperparts of a female Eurasian Siskin (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Ostrow Mazowiecka, Masovia, Poland, January 2016]

Dorsal view of a female Eurasian Siskin (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Ostrow Mazowiecka, Masovia, Poland, January 2016]

Ventral view of a female Eurasian Siskin (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Mora, Evora, Portugal, February 2016]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Lateral view of a juvenile Eurasian Siskin (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near Oslo airport, Oslo, Norway, June 2018]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Communal

Mobility: Partially migratory

Elementary unit: Mob/flock

In the central part of their European range, Eurasian Siskins are sedentary. Elsewhere they are migratory. In some years, for as yet unexplained reasons, droves of Eurasian Siskins migrate southwards from their northern breeding grounds in large flocks. Such events are on a much more massive scale than the normal annual migration.

Food, Diet

Like all other species of finches (and related genera), Eurasian Siskins are seed-eaters.

Note that cardueline finches (i.e. European Goldfinch, European Greenfinch, Eurasian Siskin and their close relatives) feed their young primarily regurgitated seeds, while fringilline finches (all others) feed their young primarily invertebrates.

Male Eurasian Siskin taking seeds from a thistle; note the greyish cap typical of autumn plumage (photo courtesy of A. Sarok)
[Near Temerin, Serbia, November 2016]

Near-frontal view of a female Eurasian Siskin feasting on the seeds of an introduced Thuya shrub
(photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Ostrow Mazowiecka, Masovia, Poland, January 2016]

Two male Eurasian Siskins approaching a water puddle (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Tejo estuary, Portugal, March 2018]

Call(s)/Song

For this species we have recorded the following call(s)/song. The interpretation of their meaning is our own; comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

siskin_dw_20190413_1.m4a	(Ctl Poland)	Group chatter (flock)	© DW
siskin_dw_20190413_2.m4a	(Ctl Poland)	Group chatter (flock)	© DW
siskin_dw_20190503.m4a	coelebs (Poland)	Territorial calls (male) + Common Chaffinch	© DW

We have also recorded the wing beat of a Eurasian Siskin.

siskin_dw_20190413_3.m4a

(Ctl Poland)

Group chatter (flock)

© DW

More Eurasian Siskin sound recordings are available at xeno-canto.org .

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

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