The Eurasian siskin (''Spinus spinus'') is a small
passerine
A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...
bird in the
finch
The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and nuts and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usua ...
family Fringillidae. It is also called the European siskin, common siskin or just siskin. Other (archaic) names include ''black-headed goldfinch'', ''barley bird'' and ''aberdevine''. It is very common throughout Europe and Eurosiberia. It is found in forested areas, both
conifer
Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...
ous and
mixed woodland
Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions.
These f ...
where it feeds on seeds of all kinds, especially of
alder
Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...
and conifers.
It can be distinguished from other similar finches by the colour of the plumage. The upper parts are greyish green and the under parts grey-streaked white. Its wings are black with a conspicuous yellow wing bar, and the tail is black with yellow sides. The male has a mainly yellow face and breast, with a neat black cap. Female and young birds have a greyish green head and no cap. It is a trusting, sociable and active bird. The song of this bird is a pleasant mix of twitters and trills. For these reasons it is often raised in captivity.
These birds have an unusual
migration
Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration
* Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another
** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...
pattern as every few years in winter they migrate southwards in large numbers. The reasons for this behaviour are not known but may be related to climatic factors and above all the availability of food. In this way overwintering populations can thrive where food is abundant. This small finch is an acrobatic feeder, often hanging upside-down like a tit. It will visit garden bird feeding stations.
Taxonomy and systematics
The siskin was first was described by
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
Systema Naturae
' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomen ...
Carduelis
The genus ''Carduelis''
is a group of birds in the finch family Fringillidae.
The genus ''Carduelis'' was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 by tautonomy based on Carl Linnaeus's specific epithet for the Europe ...
'', where this species was then placed. Recent taxonomic studies suggest placing it in the genus ''Spinus''.
The scientific name ''Spinus'' is from the
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
''spinos'', a name for a now-unidentifiable bird. The English name is from German dialect or ,
Despite being found across a wide area it is a monotypic species, that is, there are no distinct
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
. This could be explained by a number of factors, such as spatial variability of individuals in breeding areas between years, the large overwintering area which supposes a constant genetic interchange, and females having a number of clutches of eggs in one breeding season, each in a different place. This reference is based on theories expounded in
Evolution
This bird may have reached America either from Asia or from Europe (Greenland/Iceland). It is the extant parental species of one of the ''Spinus''/''Carduelis'' three evolutive North American radiations of ''atriceps'', ''pinus'' and ''dominicensis'' finches. It has been recorded both in the Aleutian Islands and the east: the Labrador Peninsula and St. Lawrence River mouth (Canada). This raises the possibility that this bird entered (or may still try to enter) America through Greenland/Iceland from Western Europe.
Description
The siskin is a small, short-tailed bird, in length with a wingspan that ranges from . It weighs between .
The bird's appearance shows
sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is the condition where the sexes of the same animal and/or plant species exhibit different morphological characteristics, particularly characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most ani ...
. The male has a greyish green back; yellow rump; the sides of the tail are yellow and the end is black; the wings are black with a distinctive yellow wing stripe; its breast is yellowish becoming whiter and striped towards the
cloaca
In animal anatomy, a cloaca ( ), plural cloacae ( or ), is the posterior orifice that serves as the only opening for the digestive, reproductive, and urinary tracts (if present) of many vertebrate animals. All amphibians, reptiles and birds, a ...
; it has a black bib (or chin patch) and on its head it has two yellow auriculas and a black cap. The amount of black on the bib is very variable between males and the size of the bib has been related to dominance within a flock. The
plumage
Plumage ( "feather") is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, ...
of the female is more olive-coloured than the male. The cap and the auriculas are greenish with a white bib and a rump that is a slightly striped whitish yellow. The young have a similar colouration to the females, with drab colours and a more subdued plumage.
The shape of the siskin's
beak
The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food ...
is determined by its feeding habits. It is strong although it is also slender in order to pick up the seeds on which they feed. The legs and feet are dark brown and the eyes are black.
It has a rapid and bounding flight pattern that is similar to other finches.
The siskin is easy to recognize, but in some instances it can be confused with other finches such as the
citril finch
The citril finch (''Carduelis citrinella''), also known as the Alpine citril finch, is a small songbird, a member of the true finch family, Fringillidae. For a long time, this cardueline finch was placed in the genus ''Serinus'', but it is appar ...
, the
European greenfinch
The European greenfinch or simply the greenfinch (''Chloris chloris'') is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae.
This bird is widespread throughout Europe, North Africa and Southwest Asia. It is mainly resident, but some north ...
or the
European serin
The European serin, or simply the serin (''Serinus serinus''), is the smallest European species of the family of finches (Fringillidae) and is closely related to the Atlantic canary. Its diet consists mainly of a combination of buds and seeds.
...
. The Eurasian siskin, in many plumages, is a bright bird. Adult male Eurasian siskins are bright green and yellow with a black cap, and an unstreaked throat and breast. Adult females also usually have green and yellow plumage tones: for example, yellow in the
supercilium
The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also ...
and on the sides of the breast, green tones in the mantle and yellow in the rump. The ground colour of the underparts of the Eurasian siskin is normally pure white. In females and juveniles, the centre of the belly and lower breast are often largely or entirely unstreaked. The wingbars of the Eurasian siskin are broad and yellow (with the tips white) and the bill is short with a decurved culmen.
Distribution and habitat
This species can be found across the greater part of Eurosiberia and the north of Africa. Its breeding area is separated into two zones, both on each side of the
Palearctic realm
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa.
The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...
: the eastern coast of Asia and the central and northern part of Europe.
These birds can be found throughout the year in Central Europe and some mountain ranges in the south of the continent. They are present in the north of
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...
and in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
and they over-winter in the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
basin and the area around the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
. In China they breed in the
Khingan Mountains
The Greater Khingan Range or Da Hinggan Range (; IPA: ), is a -long volcanic mountain range in the Inner Mongolia region of Northeast China.
It was originally called the Xianbei Mountains, which later became the name of the northern branch of t ...
of
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
and in
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...
province; they spend winter in
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
, Taiwan, the valleys of the lower
Yangtse River
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...
and the south east coast.
The Eurasian siskin is occasionally seen in North America. There is also a similar and closely related North America counterpart, the
pine siskin
The pine siskin (''Spinus pinus'') is a North American bird in the finch family. It is a migratory bird with an extremely sporadic winter range.
Taxonomy
The pine siskin was formally described in 1810 by the American ornithologist Alexander ...
(''Spinus pinus'').
Their seasonal distribution is also marked by the fact that they follow an anomalous
migration
Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration
* Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another
** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...
pattern. Every few years they migrate southwards in larger numbers and the overwintering populations in the
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
are greatly augmented. This event has been the object of diverse theories, one theory suggests that it occurs in the years when
Norway spruce
''Picea abies'', the Norway spruce or European spruce, is a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe.
It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, 9–17 cm long. It is very close ...
produces abundant seeds in the centre and north of Europe, causing populations to increase. An alternative theory is that greater migration occurs when the preferred food of
alder
Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...
or
birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...
seed fails. This species will form large flocks outside the breeding season, often mixed with
redpoll
The redpolls (genus ''Acanthis'') (in Great Britain also historically known as redpoles) are a group of small passerine birds in the finch family Fringillidae, which have characteristic red markings on their heads. They are placed in the genus ' ...
s.
It is a bird that does not remain for long in one area but which varies the areas it uses for breeding and feeding, over-wintering from one year to the next.
Its habitat is forested areas at a particular altitude on a mountain side and they have a certain predilection for humid areas.
Conifer
Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...
ous woodland, especially
spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...
, is favoured for breeding. It builds its
nest
A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materia ...
in a tree, laying 2–6 eggs. The British range of this once local breeder has expanded greatly due to an increase in commercial conifer plantations. The siskin also breeds in
mixed woodland
Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions.
These f ...
; while in winter they prefer stubble and crops and areas containing trees with seeds.
Behaviour and ecology
They are very active and restless birds. They are also very social, forming small cohesive flocks especially in autumn and winter. They are fairly trusting of humans, it being possible to observe them from a short distance. During the breeding season, however, they are much more timid, solitary and difficult to observe. For this reason there is a
German legend
German folklore is the folk tradition which has developed in Germany over a number of centuries. Partially it can be also found in Austria.
Characteristics
It shares many characteristics with Nordic folklore and English folklore due to thei ...
which says that siskins guard a magic stone in their nests that makes them invisible. It is one of the few species which has been described as exhibiting "allofeeding"' behavior, this is where subordinates (of the same sex) regurgitate food for the dominant members of the group, which creates a strong cohesion in the flocks and implies a hierarchical structure within the group.
Feeding
The siskin is mainly a
granivore
Seed predation, often referred to as granivory, is a type of plant-animal interaction in which granivores (seed predators) feed on the seeds of plants as a main or exclusive food source,Hulme, P.E. and Benkman, C.W. (2002) "Granivory", pp. 13 ...
, although it varies its diet depending on the season. It feeds in trees, avoiding eating on the ground.
In autumn and winter, its diet is based on the seeds of
deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
trees such as
birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...
and, above all,
alder
Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...
. They also visit cultivated areas and pasture, where they join with other finches in eating the seeds of various ''
Compositae
The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...
'' such as
thistle
Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves. ...
s,
dandelion
''Taraxacum'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus is native to Eurasia and Nor ...
s, ''
Artemisia
Artemisia may refer to:
People
* Artemisia I of Caria (fl. 480 BC), queen of Halicarnassus under the First Persian Empire, naval commander during the second Persian invasion of Greece
* Artemisia II of Caria (died 350 BC), queen of Caria under th ...
'',
knapweed
''Centaurea'' () is a genus of over 700 species of herbaceous thistle-like flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Members of the genus are found only north of the equator, mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere; the Middle East and surrounding re ...
s and other herbaceous plants, such as
St. John's wort
''Hypericum perforatum'', known as St. John's wort, is a flowering plant in the family Hypericaceae and the type species of the genus ''Hypericum''.
Possibly a hybrid between '' H. maculatum'' and '' H. attenuatum'', the species can be found a ...
sorrel
Sorrel (''Rumex acetosa''), also called common sorrel or garden sorrel, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Polygonaceae. Other names for sorrel include spinach dock and narrow-leaved dock ('dock' being a common name for the genus '' ...
.
In spring, during the breeding season, they are found in coniferous forests. At this time their feeding is based on the seeds of these trees, especially on trees belonging to the
genera
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...
''
Abies
Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The genus is most closely related to ...
'', ''
Picea
A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...
'' and ''
Larix
Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furth ...
''. They also feed on
elm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of North ...
s and poplars. When feeding the young they eat more insects, mainly
beetle
Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...
s, as the
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...
s they contain help the chicks to grow. In summer their feeding is more varied, adding other herbaceous plants to their diet of conifer seeds:
goosefoot
''Chenopodium'' is a genus of numerous species of perennial or annual herbaceous flowering plants known as the goosefoots, which occur almost anywhere in the world. It is placed in the family Amaranthaceae in the APG II system; older classifica ...
s and other
Compositae
The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...
.
Reproduction
Pairs are generally formed during the winter period before migration. The males compete aggressively for the females. As part of the courtship the male plumps up the feathers of the pileus and rump, making itself bigger, extending the tail and singing repeatedly. They also make mating flights from tree to tree, although they are not as eye-catching as the flights of the other finches. They construct a
nest
A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materia ...
that is generally located at the end of a relatively high branch in a conifer, such that the nest is reasonably hidden and difficult to see. On the Iberian Peninsula they make their nests in '' afirs,''
Scotch pine
''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US) or Baltic pine, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and orang ...
and
Corsican pine
''Pinus nigra'', the Austrian pine or black pine, is a moderately variable species of pine, occurring across Southern Europe from the Iberian Peninsula to the eastern Mediterranean, on the Anatolian peninsula of Turkey, Corsica and Cyprus, as wel ...
. They form small colonies of up to six pairs with the nests located near to each other. The nest is small and bowl-shaped. It is made from small twigs, dried grasses,
moss
Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and hor ...
and
lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.down.
The first brood is born in mid-April. The female lays between 2 and 6 eggs. The eggs are white or light grey or light blue, with small brown spots and they are approximately 16.5 mm by 12 mm in size.Incubation takes between 10 and 14 days and is carried out entirely by the female. The chicks are
altricial
In biology, altricial species are those in which the young are underdeveloped at the time of birth, but with the aid of their parents mature after birth. Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the mome ...
and
nidicolous
In biology, nidifugous ( , ) organisms are those that leave the nest shortly after hatching or birth. The term is derived from Latin ''nidus'' for "nest" and ''fugere'', meaning "to flee". The terminology is most often used to describe birds and w ...
. They leave the nest after 15 days in a semi-feathered condition. They then remain close to the nest area for up to a month when, with their plumage now complete, they disperse. The siskin usually has a second brood, from the middle of June up to the middle of July.
Song and call
This bird has two
call
Call or Calls may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Games
* Call, a type of betting in poker
* Call, in the game of contract bridge, a bid, pass, double, or redouble in the bidding stage
Music and dance
* Call (band), from Lahore, Paki ...
s, both powerful but conflicting, one is descending and the other is ascending, their
onomatopoeic
Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', ''m ...
sounds can be represented as ''"tilu"'' and ''"tluih"''. On occasions they also issue a harsh rattling chirrup.
The song is similar to the other finches, a smooth and rapid twitter and trill with a long duration and which is occasionally interrupted by a stronger or shorter syllable. Siskins sing throughout the year and often in groups.
Status and conservation
The worldwide population of the siskin is estimated as between 20 and 36 million. The European population is estimated as between 2.7 and 15 million pairs. There does not seem to be a major decline in population numbers and for this reason the
IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
has listed their conservation status as
least concern
A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...
. The siskin appears in Annex II of the
Berne Convention
The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, was an international assembly held in 1886 in the Swiss city of Bern by ten European countries with the goal to agree on a set of leg ...
as a protected bird species.
Relationship with humans
Like many of the finches, the siskin is valued by aviculturalists as a domestic bird for its song and appearance. They do not require specific care and adapt well to captivity, although they do not breed well in captivity. There are no specific diseases that affect the species, although they can show certain intestinal pathologies associated with a poor diet. They live for between 11 and 14 years, in sharp contrast to the 2 or 3 years it is estimated they live in the wild.
They form hybrids with some other finches (for example, canaries) giving rise to intermediate birds. Hybridisation also occurs in nature without human intervention. In some areas, individuals that are found are the result of escapes or releases of captive birds.
Cultural depictions
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
,
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
,
Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...
and
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
have all issued postage stamps bearing the image of the siskin.
In
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
there is a statue of a siskin, as its colours are the same as the uniform worn by the students at an elite school in the city. These students have come to be known by the
sobriquet
A sobriquet ( ), or soubriquet, is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another, that is descriptive. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym, as it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name, without the need of expla ...
''siskin'', russian: link=no, Чиж. This term was popularised in the Russian song " Chizhik-Pyzhik". There has been a statue of siskin on the embankment by the First Engineer Bridge since 1994, though it has been stolen and replaced multiple times.
There is a Czech folk song/dance/game " Čížečku, čížečku", in which the siskin is the source of the lore on what happens with the
poppy
A poppy is a flowering plant in the subfamily Papaveroideae of the family Papaveraceae. Poppies are herbaceous plants, often grown for their colourful flowers. One species of poppy, ''Papaver somniferum'', is the source of the narcotic drug opi ...
.
Elif Shafak
Elif Shafak ( tr, Elif Şafak, ; born 25 October 1971) is a Turkish-British novelist, essayist, public speaker, political scientist and activist.
Shafak writes in Turkish and English, and has published 19 works. She is best known for her n ...
, in the novel ''Three Daughters of Eve'', mentioned a siskin in a pivotal scene in which the heroine, Peri, meets the charismatic and controversial Professor Azur. When Peri entered Professor Azur's office, she found a siskin with yellow-green feathers and a forked tail trapped amid the shelves and stacks of books.