Wintertime gold

"Whatdya' think, Sandy, are all the siskins and goldfinches gone?" I asked Sandy Sharp the other day. Sandy's the always-helpful receptionist at the Sisters Ranger District office. She is also my siskin and goldfinch barometer; she has a thistle-feeder just outside her window and counts birds each day.

"I think so," she answered.

I also have a thistle-feeder just outside my kitchen window, and my wife Sue and I count (and enjoy!) siskins and goldfinches as well. Thanksgiving morning, at 10 degrees, I said to Sue, "Whatdya' think, Sue, are the goldfinches gone?" Almost on cue, the answer came in the form of four American goldfinches, all in winter plumage, alighting on our thistle-feeder.

"Well, that answers that," she said, putting her binoculars to her eyes to enjoy them better.

I used to be wary of doing harm to the seed-eaters by keeping thistle-feeders up during the winter; that is, until about 10 years ago when I was conducting my segment of the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) out on the southeast end of Bend. I thought goldfinches were summer birds - shucks, they look like summer - and being seed-eaters they'd run out of food and be stuck here with temperatures plummeting to below zero as often is the case.

But that year, much to my surprise, I ran into several small flocks of them way out in the junipers within the 10-mile CBC circle in the Arnold District of Bend. It was also about that time that several species of invasive thistles were beginning to take over that part of Bend, and, unbeknownst to me, it may have been the beginning of the current climate change that seems to be taking place.

That said, I don't think we're doing any damage to the goldfinch population by leaving thistle-feeders up for the migrating, or wintering-over to enjoy and fuel up on.

(The opposite can be said for leaving a hummingbird feeder up. Hummingbirds are a tropical species, and are best left to continue their migration into the summer climes of the southwest and into Baja California. Even with their ability to go torpid for 12 hours, and even supplied with heated sugar-water, they do not belong here in winter.)

And then, there's the pine siskins. They look like stunted sparrows or finches and often can be found plundering a thistle-feeder alongside the goldfinches. Yes, you guessed, they are close cousins, but unlike the goldfinches, I have a hunch siskins are sort of thin-skinned and get out of here before the cold really smacks us as it did last week.

But then they may also be keyed into their seed-food source, and if things are bleak for naturally occurring seeds, they're out of here. In any event, Sandy hasn't seen any for several weeks, and neither have I.

Unlike the American goldfinch, who has a close cousin they sometimes travel with - the lesser goldfinch - the pine siskin is the only one there is, there are no other siskins. You can readily tell goldfinches from siskins by the yellow wing bars and streaked chest of the siskins.

While siskins pretty much look the same all year - whether they be male or female - goldfinches undergo a molt twice a year; spring and fall. In spring, the males looses that olive-drab appearance of winter, and by May are almost all lemon-yellow with a white rump, jet-black forehead (cap), and white wing-bars. A male American goldfinch in full regalia is a knockout!

The lesser goldfinch is also yellow, but has a black back that covers the back of its head as well. To eliminate confusion, I think the two species talked it over and decided that the American would take over Central Oregon and go into Washington, Idaho, and other parts of the Northwest, while the lesser would stay in Klamath Falls, Medford, and California.

So, keep your eye on your thistle feeders, please, and let me know when your goldfinches go from drab to "wow!" It will happen slowly, they don't just molt overnight; the change will happen slowly as the brilliant yellow and black feathers begin to molt in. But you'll know when the male goldfinch comes into his prime.