eurasian siskins in north america- distinguishing females from

Reprinted from: American Birds, Winter 1989, Volume 43, NumberSPrinted in U. S. A.

'0

Eurasian Siskins inNorth America-

distinguishing females fromgreen-morph Pine Siskins

Ian A. McLaren, Joseph Morlan,P. William Smith, Michel Gosselin, and

Stephen F. Bailey

Figure 1. Dorsal view of the green-morph Pine Siskin in Halifax, Nova Scotia. early April 1986. Photo/!. McLaren.

ON MARCH 26,1986, AN UNUSUALsiskin turned up at McLaren'sfeeder in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

It was dark grayish-green on the back,with strong yellow wing and tailpatches, a greenish-yellow rump, andtinged with yellow on the head andunderparts. Furthermore, it appearedsmaller and its bill seemed deeperthan average among scores of PineSiskins (Carduelis pinus) coming tothe feeder. The local birding commu-nity was quickly alerted to a possiblefemale Eurasian Siskin (c. spinus).Until April 28, it was studied closelyby many people, including some fa-miliar with Eurasian Siskins in Eu-rope, and all seemed content with thisinitial identification. Its plausibilityseemed reinforced by news of an un-usually large irruption of the speciesinto Great Britain that winter (see be-low).

During its stay, three other greenishsiskins appeared at feeders in NovaScotia-two in Halifax and one inYarmouth. However, photographsseen by McLaren show that the birdfrom Yarmouth and one from Halifax

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were clearly Pine Siskins in other at-tributes, and they were not widely re-ported. The original Halifax bird(Figs. 1, 2) required more researchbefore finally being identified as anexample of the little-known greenmorph of the Pine Siskin.

Meanwhile, in late February 1987an unusual siskin flew into a windowofe. J. Ralph's house in Arcata, Cal-ifornia. The bird was stunned briefly,but recovered. Ralph noticed its un-usual plumage, but did not considerthat it might be a Eurasian Siskin untilDave DeSante saw the bird along withanother green individual several dayslater. Both were then seen by severalinterested people, none of whomcould recall seeing a Pine Siskin insuch bright plumage. One bird wasthen trapped, measured arid photo-graphed by Ralph (Fig. 3, 4), and re-leased. These birds generated muchinterest among California birders andone of them was seen by Bailey andMorlan on March 1, 1987. It becameclear that the literature was inade-quate for certain identification of thebird, although Morlan et at. (1987)

suggested that it was probably a PineSiskin because of its bright yellow un-dertail coverts, a feature lacking inEurasian Siskins (With~rby et at.1943). The photographs show that thebird was definitely a green-morphPine Siskin, based on this and othercharacters discussed below.

Our purpose~ in writing this ac-count are to review available infor-mation on claimed occurrences of theEurasian Siskin in North America andevaluate the plausibility of natural va-grancy, to describe and analyze thegreen morph of the Pine Siskin, andto compare field marks of this morphwith those of the female Eurasian Sis-kin, so that other observers will notbe misled in future.

Occurrences of Eurasian Siskins inNorth America

There are definite records of Eura-sian Siskins in North America (e.g.,Fig. 5); only their natural occurrenceis in doubt (American Ornithologists'Union 1983). Ridgway (1901) statesthat "although introduced, with otherEuropean birds, into Oregon, there is

American Birds, Winter 1989

Figure 2. Ventral view of the green-marph Pine Siskin in Halifax, Nova Scotia, early April1986. Note the extensively deep-yellow tail patches and yellowish on undertail coverts.Photo/!. McLaren.

Figure 3. Dorsal view of the green-morph Pine Siskin captured in Arcata, CA, in lateFebruary 1987. Note the whitish fringes of the lesser and greater wing coverts, the latterunderlain by extensive deep yellow of the bases offlightfeathers. Photo/Co J. Ralph.

Volume 43, Number 5

no record to the effect that this specieshas become naturalized," and theA.O.U. Check-list (A.O.U. 1983) alsomentions its unsuccessful introduc-tion in Ohio. Tables 1 and 2 summa-rize all published North American re-ports known to us of Eurasian Siskins,excluding the two unsuccessful intro-ductions. We are also aware of someother unpublished sightings of pur-ported females; we regard these as un-satisfactory .

Data available on the legal impor-tation of birds into the United Statescompiled by Smith (Table 3) includemoderate numbers of this species andother siskins compared with someother cagebirds. Thus, any or all theEurasian Siskins in North Americacould have escaped from captivity.This is also true of other species suchas the rarely imported Brambling (Ta-ble 3), whose acceptance as a genuinevagrant is based on its pattern of oc-currence in areas remote from proba-ble release of cagebirds. Of all therecords, perhaps the sightings inAlaska and Newfoundland (Table 2)and the photograph from St. Pierre(Table 1) are geographically mostsuggestive of wild vagrants.

Note that all but one confirmedEurasian Siskins and the three uncon-firmed sightings of males are from thenortheast coast or the Aleutians.Some of these reports come fromdensely populated areas where es-caped cagebirds are more likely, butal~o where more birding is done. In-land reports, in contrast, all involveclaimed females, and from detailsavailable to us we believe that most ifnot all of these were green-morph PineSiskins (see below). This lack of con-firmed Eurasian Siskins inland, whereescaped cagebirds should be just asfrequent as along the coast, stronglysuggests a pattern of vagrancy fromEurope and Asia.

There are other reasons why Eura-sian Siskins might arrive naturally inNorth America. The species breedsdiscontinuously over the boreal zoneof the Palearctic west to Scotland,where it has increased markedly since1950 due to afforestation (Thorn1986). It has also nested in Irelandsince the late 19th century and insouthern England since the 1950s(Sharrock 1976). Banding recoveriesshow that birds from Scandinavia andthe mountains of central and easternEurope often irrupt westward to

1269

Figure 4. Ventral view of the green-morph Pine Siskin (right), together with two normallyplumaged individuals, captured at Arcata, CA, in late February 1987. Note the extensivelyyellow rectrices and undertail coverts of the green-morph bird. PhotojC. J. Ralph.

coastal Europe and the British Isles infall (September to November), return-ing in spring (March to May). A majorinflux occurred in England and Ire-land during winter 1985-1986 (Daw-son and Allsopp 1986a; Dawson andAllsopp 1986b). However, banding re-coveries indicate that most of thesebirds came from Scotland rather thanScandinavia (R. Hudson, BritishTrust for Ornithology, in lit.). As withother irruptive species, banding datasuggest that the Eurasian Siskin nei-ther breeds nor winters at the samelocation in successive years. In fact no

proven individual has ever beenproved to nest closer than 120 kilo-meters to its original breeding site ina consecutive year, and one bird isknown to have wintered at two loca-tions 2000 kilometers apart (Newton1973).

Migrating or irrupting Eurasian Sis-kins can clearly make long flights overwater. At isolated locations such asFair Isle, between the Shetlands andOrkneys, it occurs annually in bothspring and fall (Hollaway and Thome1981), with peaks as high as 235 onSeptember 20, 1984 (Riddiford 1984).

In the Faroe Islands there were sevenrecords through 1983, all in Mayorin September or October; it is thoughtto be more regular now than formerly(Bloch and S0rensen 1984). In Icelandthere have been recent occurrences inspring and fall: over a dozen reportsin the fall of 1980, mostly in earlyNovember (Petursson and Skarpheth-insson 1982); and subsequently tworecords in May 1982, one on October15, 1983, and three in October 1984(Petursson and Olafsson 1984, 1985,1986). There are also reports from

, weather ships on station west of the

IBritish Isles and south of Iceland:seven individuals on October 28,1971, at 52°30'N, 20000'W (Tuck1973), and one on October 30, 1975,at 57°00'N, 20000'W (Casement1977).

In conclusion, we believe that thereis a good case for the natural arrivalof some some or all confirmed Eura-sian Siskins in North America, andfor the transfer of the species fromAppendix B of the A.O.V. Check-listto the main list.

--

The Green-Morph of the Pine Siskin

There have been few comments ongreenish Pine Siskins in the literature,generally in the context of discrimi-nating them from female EurasianSiskins. Ridgway (1901), possibly re-ferring to this greenish plumage,states: "I have not been able to dis-cover a single positive characterwhereby the adult female and young[Eurasian Siskin] may be infallibly

Table 1. Records of Eurasian Siskin (all males) in North America confirmed by specimen or photograph (all of which have beenpersonally inspected by Smith)

Locality Dates Comments

Kittery, ME

New Bedford, MA

Bloomfield, NJ

Rockport, MA

Petite Miquelon, St. Pierre etMiquelon

Etobicoke, ONT

Trapped at banding station and kept caged untilNovember 1962; no evidence of prior captiv-ity (Borror 1963). Specimen MCZ No.262138.

At feeder. Generally ignored on presumption itwas an escaped cagebird; see Johnson (1969);photos on file Massachusetts Audubon Soc.

At feeder. Published photo in Black (1983) nowin NJ Rare Bird Photo File of NJ AudubonSociety

At banding station. Copies of published photosby P. W. Smith (in Norris 1983)given toMassachusetts Audubon Soc. See also Nikula(1983). Reproduced here as Fig. 3.

Photographed by Alain Debrosse (Debrosse St.and Etcheberry, MS; see also Tingley 1983).

At feeder. Photo in Weir (1988), who com-mented "its origins remained in doubt."

March 24, 1962

late March to at leastApril 3, 1969

February 11-27, 1983

May 5, 1983

June 23, 1983

February 6 into March,1988

i

1270 American Birds, Winter 1989

Figure 5. A male Eurasian Siskin capturedat the Norris banding station (Norris 1983)at Rockport,MA, May 5, 1983.Photo/PoW Smith.

distinguished from S. pinus". Blake(1976), writing on the sighting in 1973in Wisconsin (see Table 2), states:"What is not apparently generallyknown is that, although the Pine Sis-kin usually has hen-feathered males,once in a very long time it produces acock-feathered male." Such males,which in terms of other siskin speciesare more female-like, are here referredto as green morphs, although the plu-mage appears to be restricted to males.Ryan (1981) warns about "aberrant

plumage characteristics of Pine Siskinwhen trying to identify European Sis-kin." The only field guide reference tothe plumage seems to be that by Eck-ert (in Farrand 1983), who notes thatsome Pine Siskins "have little streak-ing on the underparts, an obviousgreenish tinge above, and brighter andmore extensive wing and tail patches"may "resemble Eurasian Siskins andcan be misidentified."

Pine Siskins were examined by Gos-selin at the National Museum of Can-ada in Ottawa (NMC), by McLaren atthe Royal Ontario Museum in To-ronto (ROM), the British ColumbiaProvincial Museum in Victoria(BCPM), the Museum of Compara-tive Zoology in Cambridge, Massa-chusetts (MCZ), and the British Mu-seum (Natural History) in Tring(BMNH), and by Bailey at the Amer-ican Museum of Natural History inNew York (AMNH) and the Califor-nia Academy of Sciences in San Fran-cisco (CAS). The specimen trays holda striking diversity of plumages. How-ever, only five individuals of some 300in the NMC, four of 330 in the ROM,two of 400 in the MCZ and one of

215 in the CAS are strongly darkgreenish (the AMNH specimens weresampled differently). In addition, twoamong 120 in the BCPM and one of160 Pine Siskins in the BMNH arequite greenish, although not so strik-ingly so as the NMC, ROM, and MCZindividuals. Thus it appears, to theextent that these collections are un-biased, that only about one percent ofPine Siskins might be classed as greenmorphs. There appear to be no sea-sonal or geographical patterns in theincidence of this plumage.

These greenish Pine Siskins looklike ordinary ones that have lost theirheavy brown streaks, revealing an un-derlying pattern of gray and yellowthat blend into green hues overlaid bya fainter remnant of the originalstreaking. This may be interpreted asan example of schizochroism, inwhich the phaeomelanin (brown) isreduced or absent while both eume-lanin (black) and carotenoids (yellow)are retained (Campbell and Lack1985). _

Male Pine Siskins distinguished byOberholser (1974) as a "gray phase"have the normal amount of yellowish

Table 2. Unconfirmed published reports of Eurasian Siskins in North America. All are sight records, with no photographic evidenceknown to us.

Locality

Cambridge, MA

Dates

August, 1904

Comments

Male seen by William Brewster (1906) who thoughtthat it had probably escaped, although it waswary and unworn.

A feeder bird "thought to be a female" describedbriefly and inconclusively (Bird News WesternMass. 13: 30 [1972]).

A female during a Christmas Count, well describedby DeBenedictis and Fiehweg (1974); see alsoJanssen (1974). Large yellow tail flashes implyPine Siskin.

A poorly described female at feeder, first thought tobe a Cape May Warbler (Maier and Maier 1974)!This report was followed by one of an aberrantPine Sislcin(Woodcock 1974).

A single-observer sighting of a male, well describedby T. J. Savaloja (Kessel and Gibson, unpubl.records). Noted in Roberson 1980.

A single-observer sighting of a male, well describedby Burrows (1980).

A "well described female" was listed as an "exotic"by PeteIjohn (1981), and the record is discussedfurther by PeteIjohn in Ryan along with refer-ence to a bird in Toledo, that "lacked sustantiat-ing details."

Male reported without dates (Black 1983) and as-sumed by Boyle et al. (1983) to be the sameindividual confirmed at Bloomfield (see Table 1).From interviews, Smith believes this record un-confirmed.

Reported as having "exhibited field marks of a fe-male Eurasian Sislcin" (Mactavish 1986), hereidentified as a Pine Sislcin.

Holyoke, MA March 14-April 26, 1972

Kenosha, WI December 22, 1973

Buffalo, WI February 3-March 3,1974

Attu, AK June 4, 1978

Terra Nova N.P., New-foundland

Urbana,IL

February 13, 1980

January 3 I-February 8,1981

Verona, NJ March 11-16, 1983

Halifax, N.S. March 26-April 28, 1986

Volume 43, Number 5

I

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Table 3. Eurasian Siskins and some other birds imported into the United States,1969-1974. Data from Banks (1970), Banks and Clapp (1972), Clapp (1975), Clappand Banks (1973a, 1973b), and Greenhall (1977).

SpeciesTotal

imported

Eurasian speciesEuropean Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)Common Rosefinch (Carpodacus erythrinus)1Eurasian Bullfinch (pyrrhula pyrrhula)Eurasian Linnet (Carduelis cannabina)Common Serin (Serinus serinus)Eurasian Siskin (Carduelis spinus)Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)European Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris)Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes)Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla)

Neotropical speciesHooded Siskin (Carduelis magellanica)Black-headed Siskin (Carduelis notata)Black Siskin (Carduelis atrata)

All species, all families2Psittacidae, Sturnidae, Ploceidae, Estrildidae only

I Some of these may be related species2 Excludes ca. 500,000 canaries not reported in 1968-1969

444216958443983792721901162420

1142159

153,737,6362,910,162

pigment in the body plumage, andthus may have only a faintly greenishcast (Fig. 6). Darker green individualslike the Halifax (Fig. 1) and Arcata(Fig. 4) birds seem to have an extradose of carotenoids, and thus are xan-thochroistic as well as schizochroistic.This is evident in the deep yellow oftheir wing and tail patches. The extentand intensity of the patches vary in-dependently; thus the grayish bird onFigure 6 has very large wing patches,but these are the typical pale yellowof normal Pine Siskins.

The green morph occurs largely orentirely in male Pine Siskins. All thestrikingly dark green birds in the mu-seum collections examined by us aremales. This sex bias may be the basisfor Blake's (1976) supposition thatthey represent "cock-feathered" ratherthan the normal "hen-featheredmale." They are very drab comparedto males of other cardueline finches,

Figure 6. A gray-morph Pine Siskin inHalifax. Nova Scotia. lateApril 1986. Notethat the yellow on wings and tail is exten-sive. but not strong in hue and that theback is only faintly greenish. Photo/I.McLaren.

1272

.and probably are not a throwback toan ancestral cock plumage of this spe-cies. It is perhaps significant, however,that bright cock plumages of someother carduelines do appear to de-velop partly through "turning oW' thebold brown immature streaking (as inmost Loxia. Carpodacus, and Car-duelis). One Newfoundland specimen(MCZ 25615), however, is labeled asa female. It has a heavily streaked,yellowish rump, and strongly yellowwing and tail patches, but its back isnot as purely greenish as those of themales examined.

It should also be noted that juvenilePine Siskins may resemble greenmorph adults in having yellow below,especially on the undertail coverts.They differ from the green morphs inusually having more extensive yellowventrally, and in lacking the greenishsuffusion above and the strong yellowpatches on wings and tail. This plu-mage, which is illustrated in Scott(1987), may be lost before the birdsmigrate.

Identification of Female EurasianSiskins

It is clear that some adult male PineSiskins look like female Eurasian Sis-kins (cf Fig. 1, 7). Fortunately, adultmale Eurasian Siskins are easily dis-tinguished, although they do bear asuperficial resemblance to some neo-tropical siskins. Svensson (1984) in-dicates that male Eurasian Siskins areidentifiable as such by their first win-ter. Thus we are faced only with the

problem of distinguishing female Eur-asian Siskins from green-morph malePine Siskins.

Size. The Eurasian species averagessmaller than the Pine Siskins, but notmuch. Weights of Pine Siskins(Clench and Leberman 1978) andEurasian Siskins (Sellers 1986) areseasonally and diurnally variable andshow much overlap. Wing lengths areoften measured differently by Euro-pean (flattened wing) and NorthAmerican authors (unflattened), so wemeasured unflattened wing chord (inmillimeters) of the nine green-morphPine Siskins in the NMC and ROM(mean 72.8, S.D. 1.79, range 70.0-76.1) and the seven female EurasianSiskins from Europe in the ROM(mean 68.9, S.D. 1.99, range 67.2-72.5). it is clear that the two speciescannot be reliably discriminated bysize.

Bill size and shape. The Halifaxbird had a deep bill compared withmost Pine Siskins (cf Figs. 2 and 8).Bill measurements by McLaren maybe more comparable inter se thanthose from the literature. Five femaleand seven male Eurasian Siskins fromEurope (others were broken or gaping)in the ROM were compared with sixmale and six female Pine Siskins cho-sen at random. Although the bills ofthe Pine Siskins appeared longer, theirexposed culmen length proved verysimilar to that of the Eurasian Siskins,perhaps because of greater extensionof the culmen onto the roof of the

Figure 7. A female Eurasian Siskin inCoventry. England. February 1982. Notethe paler yellow wing markings comparedto the green-morph Pine Siskin (Figs. 1-4). Photo/Alan Millward.


~

Figure 8. A first-winter Pine Siskin in Hal-ifax. Nova Scotia. late April 1986. Notethe thin bill (compare with Fig. 7). Photo/I. McLaren.

skull in the latter. Therefore, lengthwas measured from the anterior edgeof the nostril to the tip of the bill. Thisaveraged significantly greater (t =4.06, d.f. 20, p < 0.01) in Pine Siskins(mean 8.88, S.D. 0.36, range 8.5-9.7mm) than in Eurasian Siskin (mean8.36, S.D. 0.26, range 7.9-9.0 mm).Bill depth, however, was significantlysmaller (t = 9.36, d.f. 20, p < 0.001)in Pine Siskins (mean 5.80 mm, S.D.0.29, range 5.3-6.4 mm) than in Eur-asian Siskins (mean 6.31, S.D. 0.23,range 6.1-6.8 mm). Although these

Figure 9. Sketch by Lars Jonsson of thegreen-morph Pine Siskin in Halifax. NovaScotia. based on photographs (upper fig-ure). together with that of a "typical" orcomposite adult female Eurasian Siskin(lowerfigure). Note the following featureson the Eurasian Siskin: more distinct up-per wing bar; broaderand whiter lowerwing bar; less prominent wing flashes(bases of secondaries); dark streaks on un-dersides most prominent on flanks; lesscontrasting ear coverts (not always so);stouter and more curved (not always) cul-men.

Volume 43, Number 5

measurements overlap, they representa visibly different average bill shape,due largely to the deeper base of thelower mandible in Eurasian Siskinsand the very long, thin bills of somePine Siskins (e.g., Fig. 8).

Although the culmen on the Eura-sian Siskin is commonly illustrated ascurved (as in Fig. 7), and that of thePine Siskin as straight (as in Fig. 8),this is not a reliable difference. Amongbirds in the Museum of VertebrateZoology, University of California atBerkeley, culmens of 28/39 EurasianSiskins and 36/397 Pine Siskins werescored as curved. Furthermore, cur-vature of the culmen may only beevident when the bill is observed orphotographed from a strictly lateralaspect.

Plumages. The striking similarity ofplumages between female EurasianSiskin and some green morphs of thePine Siskin is the heart of the identi-fication problem. In our analyses, wehave been greatly aided by the com-ments of and the illuminating sketch(Fig. 9) by Lars Jonsson who, unliketwo other European experts to whomwe submitted copies of slides, imme-diately recognized that the Halifaxbird was not a Eurasian Siskin.

1. The wing bars of Eurasian andPine siskins are variably illustrated infield guides and other references.Those of Pine Siskins are often shownas more modest and less deeply yellowthan those of Eurasian Siskins. How-ever, specimens of female EurasianSiskins seen by us generally do nothave such bright wing markings. LarsJonsson (in lit.) judged, from photo-graphs of the Halifax bird (Fig. 1, 2),that "the bright wing flashes of yelloware absolutely too bright for a female[Eurasian] siskin." Furthermore, thepattern of yellow differs. Both mayhave variable amounts of yellow, withvirtually none in some Pine Siskins,but prominent in our green morphs,on the bases of the primaries and se-condaries and on the inner webs ofthe tertials. Field guide illustrations ofPine Siskins generally show one ortwo whitish wing bars with a yellowflash at the base of the outer primaries,and this is indeed the commonest ar-rangement. However, the margins ofthe greater wing coverts may appearyellowish in Pine Siskins, especially ingreen morphs. Although the posteriorwing bar may be slightly yellowish,this appearance in Pine Siskins derives

largely from the underlying deep-yel-low bases of the secondary feathersthat show through the whitish andoften worn greater covert margins (seeFig. 3). Virtually all field guide illus-trations of female Eurasian Siskinsshow two yellowish wing bars. Indeed,both the median and greater covertsof adult female Eurasian Siskins have

. yellowish margins, although the for-mer may be covered by scapular feath-ers in perched birds. Also, the yellow-ish margins of the greater coverts infemale Eurasian Siskins are generallybroader than those on green-morphPine Siskins, although they may benarrowed by wear. The yellowishbases of the secondaries in female Eur-asian Siskins do not extend much ifat all beyond the yellowish tips of thegreater coverts. In conclusion, the eye-catching prominence of yellow ontheir wings has a different basis infemale Eurasian Siskins and green-morph Pine Siskins: two wing bars inthe former, and deeper and more ex-tensive yellow at the bases of flightfeathers in the latter.

2. The yellow tail patches of femaleEurasian Siskins are less deeply yellowand less extensive than those of green-morph Pine Siskins, in which theymay extend almost to the tip of thetail medially (e.g., Figs. 2, 4). This isprobably a sexual difference, as malesiskins do have more extensive deep-yellow tail patches than females (Pyleet al. 1987).

3. Dorsal views of green siskins,while likely to attract attention amonga flock of Pine Siskins, are least dis-tinctive. Views of the underparts aremore useful. Green morphs alwayslack the heavy, dark streaks usual inbrownish Pine Siskins, and some havealmost no streaking below. Whenpresent, the streaks appear broad anddiffuse compared with those of femaleEurasian Siskins, on which the streak-ing of the flanks, especially poste-riorly, is always broad, dark andsharp-edged (Fig. 10). Female Eura-sian Siskins also have a larger un-streaked area on the lower breast andbelly (Fig. 10).

The distribution of yellow on theunderparts differs in the two birds(Figs. 9, 10). Female Eurasian Siskinsare variably yellow on the upperbreast. The yellow is more extensiveand less bright in most green-morphPine Siskins and often occurs on theflanks.

1273

I.......

frc.,,"

If').';

6'~ I,

1IOl'11~~\ ~ ..

~&I$n..~ ~ ~ '~.

~ ~ ~\ ~ ~......'35 \i ,,\ ~. ~<.=--~ ... ':0.,...

Figure 10. Ventral view of specimens of agreen-morph Pine Siskin (NMC 83635,left) and a female Eurasian Siskin (NMC45425, right). Note the extensive yellowishon the underparts of the former and itsconfinement to the upper breast on thelatter. Photo/M. Gosselin.

The undertail coverts of most green-morph Pine Siskins (including boththe Halifax and Arcata birds) are yel-lowish, a feature not found on anyspecimens of female Eurasian Siskins,some of which do have a little yellowimmediately behind the legs. How-ever, yellow undertail coverts are notalways noticeable on specimens ofgreen-morph Pine Siskins. Thus, yel-low undertail coverts, if they can beseen, exclude the Eurasian Siskin; buttheir absence does not infallibly sig-nify this species.

4. Although green-morph Pine Sis-kins may have more contrasting earpatches than do female Eurasian Sis-kins (cf Figs. 2, 7) this is not a con-sistent or easily observed difference.We find no other differences in facialor dorsal plumage that might assistdiscrimination in the field.

In conclusion, close study of brightgreen-morph Pine Siskins should dis-tinguish them from possible vagrant(or escaped) female Eurasian Siskins.Most important, the large yellow tailand wing patches that may first drawattention to a green-morph Pine Sis-kin at the same time eliminate thepossibility of female Eurasian Siskin.In contrast, real female Eurasian Sis-kins are not so brightly marked andcould easily be overlooked amongPine Siskins. The best field mark is

1274

the pattern of the wings: two yellowishwing bars and limited yellow at thebase of the flight feathers in EurasianSiskins, and two whitish wing barswith an extensive yellow primarypatch on Pine Siskins. Yellow under-tail coverts, if present, eliminate fe-male Eurasian Siskin. Bedazzled ob-servers should try to obtain color pho-tographs for closer analysis.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank staff at the British ColumbiaProvincial Museum, The British Museum(Natural History), the American Museum ofNatural History, the Museum of Compara-tive Zoology at Harvard University, the Mu-seum of Vertebrate Zoology of the Universityof Californiaat Berkeley,and the Royal On-tario Museum, for access to collections.Wealso thank Lars Jonsson for his useful com-ments on the identification problem and hissplendid sketch, Kenneth C. Parkes for val-uable analyses of collectionsin the CarnegieMuseum, Pittsburgh, Theodore Koundak-

jian for analysingcollectionsin the Museumof Vertebrate Zoology,C. J. Ralph and AlanMillward for their photographs, and DanGibson and A. Debrosse for unpublished in-formation, and Dave DeSante for alerting usto the Arcata birds.

LITERATURE CITED

AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS'UNION. 1983. Check-list of NorthAmerican birds. Sixth Edition. AllenPress, Lawrence, Kansas.

BANKS, R. C. 1970. Birds imported intothe United States in 1968. Us. Fish &Wild/. ServoSpec. Sci. Rep. Wildl. 136.

BANKS, ~. c., AND R. B. CLAPP. 1972.Birds imported into the United Statesin 1969. Us. Fish & Wildl. ServoSpec.Sci. Rep. Wild/. 148.

BLACK, I. H. 1983. Winter field notes -region no. 2. Rec. N.J. Birds 9:35-36.

BLAKE, C. H. 1976. Siskin plumages. Am.Birds 30:770.

BLOCH, D., and S. S0RENSEN. 1984.Yvirlit yvir F0roya Fuglar. F0roya Sku-laborkagrunnur, Torshavn.

BORROR, A. C. 1963. European Siskin(Carduelis spinus) in Maine. Auk80:201.

BOYLE, W. J., R. O. PAXTON, and D.A. CUTLER. 1983. Hudson-Delawareregion. Am. Birds 37:283-287.

BREWSTER, W. 1906. The birds of theCambridge region of Massachusetts.Mem. Nuttall Ornitho/. Club, No.4.

BURROWS, R. 1980 Possible EuropeanSiskin? Osprey 11:33-34.

CAMPBELL, B., and E. LACK. 1985 ADictionary of Birds. Buteo Books, Ver-million, North Dakota.

CASEMENT, M. B. 1977. Landbird sum-mary. Sea Swallow 26: 15-37.

CLAPP, R. B. 1975. Birds imported intothe United States in 1972. V.s. Fish &Wildl. ServoSpec. Sci. Rep. Wildl. 193.

CLAPP, R. B., and R. C. BANKS. 1973a.Birds imported into the United States

in 1970. Us. Fish & Wild/. ServoSpec.Sci. Rep. Wildl. 164.

CLAPP, R. B., and R. C. BANKS. 1973b.Birds imported into the United Statesin 1971. Us. Fish & Wildl. ServoSpec.Sci. Rep. Wildl. 170.

CLENCH, M. H., and R. C. LEBERMAN.1978. Weights of 151 species of Penn-sylvania birds analysed by month, ageand sex. Bull. CarnegieMus. Nat. Hist.5.

DAWSON, I., and K. ALLSOPP. 1986a.Recent reports. Brit. Birds 79:215-220.

DAWSON, I., and K. ALLSOPP. 1986b.Recent reports. Brit. Birds 79:263-268.

DeBENEDICTIS, P., and B. FIEHWIG.1974. A European Siskin on the Ke-nosha Christmas Count. Passenger Pi-geon 36:38.

FARRAND, J., Jr. (Ed.). 1983. The Au-dubon Society master guide to birding.Vo!. 3. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

GREENHALL, M. 1977. Birds importedinto the United States in 1973 and1974. V.s. Fish & Wild. Servo Wild/.Leaflet 511.

HOLLOWAY, J. F., and R. H. F.THORNE. 1981. The birds of Fair Isle.Shetland Times, Lerwick.

JANSSEN, R. B. 1974. Western GreatLakes Region. Am. Birds 28:641-645.

JOHNSON, G. W. 1969. Spotting out-of-place bird is great thrill. New Bedford(MA) Sunday Standard-Times 61, No.16:51.

MACTAVISH, B. 1986. NortheasternMaritime Region. Am. Birds 40:442-446.

MAIER, L., and M. MAIER. 1974. Eu-ropean Siskin? at Buffalo. PassengerPigeon 36:158.

MORLAN, J., S. F. BAILEY, and R. A.ERICKSON. 1987. Middle PacificCoast region. Am. Birds 41:322-327.

NEWTON, I. 1973. Finches. TaplingerPub!. Co., New York.

NIKULA, B. 1983. Northeastern mari-time region. Am. Birds 37:844-849.

NORRIS, R. T. 1983. Banding report:Eurasian Siskin in Rockport, Massa-chusetts. Bird. Obs. E. Mass. II: 172-173.

OBERHOLSER, H. C. 1974. The BirdLife of Texas. 2 vols. University ofTexas Press, Austin, Texas. 1063 p.

PETERJOHN, B. G. 1981. Middlewesternprairie region. Am. Birds 35:304-307.

PETURSSON, G., and E. OLAFSSON.1984. Sjaldg fir Fuglar a Islandi 1982.Bliki 3:15-44.



PETURSSON, G., and K. H. SKAR-PHETHINSSON. 1982. Sjaldg fir Fug-lar a Islandi 1980. Natturufroethisto-finn Islands, Reykjavik.

PYLE, P., S. N. G. HOWELL, R. P. YU-NICK, and D. F. DeSANTE. 1987.

Continued on page 1381


Loggerhead Shrikes were markedwith:

a) a FWS aluminum band duringall years;

b) a red plastic band (0.4 cm wide)on the opposite leg during 1988;

c) a red and white plastic band onthe opposite leg during 1989;and

d) larger immatures were markedwith fluorescent orange on thetail and/or primaries during1989.

Baird's Sparrows were marked with:a) A FWS aluminum band and a

colored plastic band during 1988.

Anyone observing these birds shouldnote the location, date, color markerand band combinations and other de-tails of the sighting. Send particularsto KEN DE SMET, MANITOBADEPARTMENT OF NATURALRESOURCES, BOX 14, 1495 ST.JAMES STREET, WINNIPEG,MANITOBA, R3H OW9 or phone(204-945-6301).

Hawk Watch in New EnglandThe New England Hawk Watch will

hold a one day conference on subjectsrelated to raptors and raptor migra-tion on Saturday, April 7, 1990 at theHoliday Inn in Holyoke, Massachu-setts (the site of previous NEHW con-ferences). The program is presently inthe planning stage. Following theday's events there will be. a banquetwith Peter Dunne the guest speaker.

For more detailed information andpre-registration write to: HAWKS,P.O. Box 212, Portland, Connecticut06480.

National Symposium on UrbanWildlife

A national symposium on urbanwildlife is scheduled for November 11to 14, 1990, at the Stouffer Five Sea-sons Hotel, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Or-ganized by the National Institute forUrban Wildlife, the symposium will

- focus the attention of urban planners,. landscapearchitects,developers,city

administrators, natural resources bi-ologists, elected officials, and otherson the opportunity and need for wild-life and nature conservation in met-ropolitan America.

The National Institute for UrbanWildlife is a private, nonprofit scien-tific and education organization ded-icated to research, management, andconservation education programs andactivities for the benefit of people and

Volume 43, Number 5

wildlife in urban, suburban, and de-veloping areas.

For more information, contact Dr.Lowell Adams, Symposium ProgramChairman, National Institute for Ur-ban Wildlife, 10921 Trotting RidgeWay, Columbia, MD 21044 (301-596-3311). .Eurasian Siskins

Continuedfrom page 1274

Identification Guide to North Ameri-can Passerines. Slate Creek Press, Bol-inas, California.

RIDDIFORD, N. 1984. Fair Isle Observ-atory Report No. 37. Fair Isle BirdObservatory Trust, Edinburgh.

RIDGWAY, R. 190I. The birds of Northand Middle America. Part I. FamilyFringillidae-the finches. U.S. Nat.Mus. Bull. 50.

ROBERSON, D. 1980. Rare Birds of theWest Coast. Woodcock Publications,Pacific Grove, California.

RYAN, R. 1981. Ask Dick Ryan. Birding13:156-157.

SCOTT, S. L., ed. 1987. Field Guide tothe Birds of North America. NationalGeographic Society, Washington, D.C.464p.

SELLERS, R. M. 1986. Biometrics of theSiskin Carduelis spinus. Ringing andMigration 7:99-111.

SHARROCK, J. T. R. 1976. The Atlas ofBreeding Birds in Britain and Ireland.T. & A. D. Poyser, Berkhamsted, Eng-land.

SVENSSON, L. 1984. IdentificationGuide to European Passerines. Thirded. Pub!. by author, Stockholm, Swe-den.

THOM, V. M. 1986. Birds in Scotland. T.and A. Poyser, Calton, Scotland.

TINGLEY, S. 1983. Northeastern mari-time region. Am. Birds 37:967-970.

TUCK, G. S. 1973. O.W.S. Landbird ob-servations-1970/1971. Sea Swallow22:27 (plus Table B facing p. 24).

WEIR, R. D. 1988. Ontario Region. Am.Birds 42: 256-261.

WITHERBY, H. E, F. C. R. JOURDAIN,N. E TICEHURST, and B. W.TUCKER. 1943. The Handbook ofBritish Birds. Witherby, London.

WOODCOCK, J. 1974. Pine Siskin inaberrant plumage. Passenger Pigeon36:158.

-Biology Department, DalhousieUniversity, Halifax. N.S. B3H 4Jl(McLaren); 417 Talbot Ave., Albany,CA 94706 (Morlan); South Florida Re-search Center, Everglades NationalPark, P.O. Box 279, Homestead, FL33030 (Smith); Ornithology Section,National Museum of Natural Science,P.O. Box 3443, Sta. D, Ottawa, Ont.,Canada KIP 6P4 (Gosselin); Depart-ment of Ornithology and Mammalogy,California Academy of Sciences, SanFrancisco,CA94118(Bailey). .

r ,IIIIIII

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eurasian siskins in north america- distinguishing females from

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