Oklahoma Irruptive Species Profile: Pine Siskin

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The Pine Siskin often associates with the American Goldfinch, and can be a common nomadic winter bird in Oklahoma.  But as an occasional compatriot, its presence can vary on a yearly basis.  It feeds upon insects, buds, seeds of many conifers, as well as what could be left upon deciduous trees.

Sometimes displaying yellow wingbars, this finch enjoys thistle and will be at your feeder when it is present.  Large numbers of this migratory bird can appear sporadically and it is usually due to lack of food in its normal habitat.  They have a remarkably high metabolism and will eat constantly.  They are generalist feeders, so almost anything will please them.  Mineral deposits will also send them to roadways and roadsides in order to eat these sparse flecks from road salt.  However, the newer melting agents are made of less worthy chemicals, which could cause them physical angst or worse.  They also tend to be run over in the roadways, leading to added mortality.

                                                                        Pine Siskin
                                                              Boomer Lake Park, 2014
                                             
During times of breeding in the northern states, mountains, and the Boreal Forest, they are a known Brown-headed Cowbird host.  Forest fragmentation has increased this probability, so they tend to have their young survive much better through appropriate forest management, where large swaths are not clear cut and replanted the following spring.

These songbirds are often afflicted with salmonella which can be common at bird feeders, a reminder to keep them very clean, much more than normal during inclement weather.  Cats should be keep away from feeding stations, and they are also victims to other predators like raptors, crows, and red squirrels.  They will do well in a yard with much cover, especially shrubs and enjoy ornamental conifers.  They also enjoy remains from leftover sunflowers, weeds, and thistle plants.

Oklahoma Irruptive Species Profile: Red-breasted Nuthatch

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One of the smallest songbirds with the classic steel-blue upperparts and orange breast and belly, the Red-breasted Nuthatch is either in your face at feeders, or a distant tease with that nasal call.

A few Oklahoma residents are already predicting  an invasion, which may or may not come to pass, but if food is scarce for them already in the northern hinterlands, they could be getting interested in the Great Plains as a possible range expansion vector.

Known for a strong interest in the spruce budworm, this nuthatch can almost smell them for their weight in gold.  During the massive budworm infestation of the 1970s in the Boreal Forest wildness, a change was created in forestry over a ten year period that still lasts today with irruptive migrant behavior.  Tied in with this species, it also includes the Evening Grosbeak, Black-capped Chickadee, both crossbills, Pine Siskin and more on the tail end of the phenomena.  This will be discussed in the next section.  For more information, see:  https://debhirt.blogspot.com/2018/10/long-term-effects-regarding-late-1960s.html

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Wikipedia

The species has already increased its range in a southward moving by nesting in ornamental conifers, especially in mature forest, which is required for nesting sites in decaying wood.  Like its white-breasted cousin and others, this nuthatch is known for hitching backward down trees.

The future of this bird over the next several decades to half century will be in a northerly direction.  However, areas with conifers will always win out, be it north or south.  Therefore, there will be much more range loss in summer than in the winter.

Known for its friendless and lack of fear toward humans, if one stands still in its favored zone, it will come quite close.