Eurasian Siskin

Also known as European Siskin, Common Siskin, Black-headed Goldfinch, Aberdevine

Eurasian siskins are agile, restless finches celebrated for their acrobatic foraging displays, often hanging completely upside down from slender twigs to pry seeds out of alder and birch cones. Highly gregarious outside the breeding season, they form energetic nomadic flocks that wander widely across landscapes in response to boom-and-bust tree seed crops. During spring, breeding pairs retreat into the upper canopy of mature conifers, where males perform fluttering butterfly-like display flights accompanied by rapid, twirling songs.