Siskin Call MP3s
Small, acrobatic and often heard before seen, the Siskin's wheezy twitter is a useful cue for anyone tracking flocks through winter conifers or feeders.
Also known as
Recordings (4)
About this species
The Siskin (Spinus spinus) is a passerine songbird of around 12 cm — tiny and streaky yellow-green, the male capped black with a neat black bib. It roams conifer plantations and streamside alders in restless flocks.
It keeps up a high, twittery wheeze in restless feeding flocks. It feeds acrobatically on the seeds of alder, birch and conifers. It feeds acrobatically, hanging upside-down from cones in busy, twittering flocks. Its voice is woven into the soundscape of the European countryside through spring and summer.
Legal use
The Siskin breeds across Europe and northern Asia, largely in conifer forest, and is fully protected as a wild bird under the EU Birds Directive, the UK Wildlife and Countryside Act, and the Bern Convention; it does not appear on general huntable-species lists, and it is also one of the seven finch species named in Malta's recurring, EU Court of Justice-condemned autumn live-capture derogation. It is additionally a frequent target of illegal cage-trapping in parts of the Mediterranean, particularly northern Italy (notably Lombardy), where finches are caught using concealed garden traps for the songbird trade — an unlawful practice, not a sanctioned hunting use. See our full country-by-country disclaimer for the specific legal status where you plan to use this recording.