The big snow storm arrived as promised, and I’m confident that the Pine Siskins are here for the long haul. I counted more than 130 of them on and under my feeders at one point, and there were many more of them chattering away in the snow-covered trees.
I did discover that Pine Siskins are very brave. In between bouts of heavy snowfall I shoveled paths to the bird feeders. I expected the Pine Siskins to scatter like goldfinches when I got close to them, but they didn’t. In fact they kept eating like I wasn’t even there. Some got a little uncomfortable when I started talking to them, but there were still several that were not going to budge from that feeder unless I did something crazy. So I took the dare.
I wanted to see if I could touch one of the birds, but I had big, thick gloves on and I knew if I stuck out my gigantic hand it would be too threatening. However, I was wearing a baseball-type winter cap with a brim. I lowered my head and slowly brought the brim toward one of the birds. All I could see was his little tail. As my brim got within inches, he still didn’t move. Eventually my hat was tickling his tail feathers. The other two birds flew away, but he stayed put. After a few moments I tilted my head up to look him in the eye and that’s when he finally flew into a nearby shrub.
The unease didn’t last long, however. Moments after I shoveled around the base of the feeder and backed up a couple of feet, he and the rest of the flock came back and started feeding again like nothing had happened.
