Eurasian Siskin

Spinus spinus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Eurasian Siskin, Spinus spinus, is a finch of forested parts of the Palearctic, breeding from the British Isles and Scandinavia across Russia to Japan, and south into mountain woods in southern Europe and western Asia. In winter it can move widely into parks, groves and other wooded places across a broader range. It is a small passerine with grey-green upperparts, white underparts marked with grey, black wings showing a yellow bar, and a black tail edged in yellow. Males have a yellow face and breast with a black cap, while females and young lack the cap.

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Fringillidae — Finches, Euphonias

Breeding range

Palearctic: Subarctic to montane low temperate Palearctic forest and woods: British Isles, n Scandinavia through Russia, nc Kazakhstan and nc Mongolia to Sea of Okhotsk, Sakhalin and Kuril Is. (e Russia), Hokkaido, n Honshu (n Japan), n Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang (ne China) s to montane c Iberian Pen., Corsica, Italy, Greece, Balkans, n Turkey, Caucasus and n Iran

Nonbreeding range

irruptive in temperate to subtropical Palearctic forest, groves, parks: to Canary Is. (Macaronesia, w of n Africa), n Africa, Israel, Iraq, n, e Arabian Pen., all Japan, Korean Pen., Taiwan and sc, se China