Spinus pinus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The pine siskin (Spinus pinus) is a North American bird in the finch family. It is a migratory bird with an extremely sporadic winter range. The pine siskin is currently listed as a species of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
The pine siskin was formally described in 1810 by the American ornithologist Alexander Wilson under the binomial name Fringilla pinus. The specific epithet pinus is the Latin word for a "pine-tree". The type locality is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The pine siskin is now placed in the genus Spinus that was introduced in 1816 by the German naturalist Carl Ludwig Koch in 1816.
Three subspecies are recognised: In both sexes, total length can range from 11–14 cm (4.3–5.5 in), with a wingspan of 18–22 cm (7.1–8.7 in) and a weight of 12–18 g (0.42–0.63 oz). Adults are brown on the upperparts and pale on the underparts, with heavy streaking throughout... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toluca | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 2 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Salt Lake City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Edmonton | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 7 | Calgary | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 8 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zoo Pilsen | 🇨🇿 Czechia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pine Siskin sighting in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks on a given day, based on 191 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 66th most-seen of the 152 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January to March
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Pine Siskin in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks on a given day, against under 5% in September, the lowest month. Those are among Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks's wettest months, with about 160 mm of rain a month against 10 mm in September.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pine Siskin sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
20th of 38
Of the 38 parks where we can rate Pine Siskin sightings, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks ranks 20th at about 10%. The best odds are in Banff National Park (Canada, about 60%), Jasper National Park (Canada, about 60%) and Glacier National Park (United States, about 50%). All parks ranked.
Same genus: Spinus
The closest relatives of the Pine Siskin that you can see in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (genus Spinus, Siskins and New World Goldfinches) are Lesser Goldfinch (about 30%) and Lawrence's Goldfinch (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pine Siskin is recorded against all the birds logged in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (191 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
