next message in archive
next message in thread
previous message in archive
previous message in thread
Index of Subjects
Index of Subjects Patrick et al.: These "yellow" Pine Siskins, as referred to in Sibley, are deemed yellow because of their flashy yellow wing stripes and yellow cast on the pale plumage of upper breast and rump, but at least some are also known as "green morph" because their darker body plumage has a greenish cast. In 1989 some colleagues and I wrote an article in "Birding" magazine on this green morph. One of these had excited us here in Halifax by being first taken as a vagrant female Eurasian Siskin, which species has occurred in AK, probably NL and QC, and possibly elsewhere, but not here, yet. Anyway, to make a long story short, whereas some males simply have more saturated and extensive yellow in normally yellow parts, green morphs have an excess of yellow pigments throughout the plumage, giving bright yellow rumps, yellow around the face, and a greenish cast to darker body feathering. Some think it is a "cock plumage" i.e. a "throwback" to an original, brighter male plumage found in some siskin species elsewhere. They do indeed occur rarely throughout N. America, and I don't know what basis Dave Sibley has for stating that they are more frequent in the Southwest. I have seen perhaps a half-dozen here. Thanks for tellng us about this siskin. It would be good to have photos. Cheers, Ian McLaren Quoting Patrick Giffin <barpat@ns.sympatico.ca>: > 16JAN08 > Hi: > At about 1000 there were 100+ Redpolls and I did count 12 Pine > Siskins and was impressed as this is twice the number we had seen on > our PFW CDs since starting 10Nov. Today 1 siskin was unlike any that > I recall ever seeing, however, I assumed it was an adult on steroids > and didn't check Sibley until 1600. > Perhaps it will show up at other feeders. It certainly fits Sibley's > Yellow adult, supposed to be in the southwest. > Cheers, Pat
next message in archive
next message in thread
previous message in archive
previous message in thread
Index of Subjects