Hi Mark,
Great bird! You mentioned Sibley says the yellow morph is more common in the Southwest, but I don't remember seeing any like this in my time in Guatemala where we have Pine Siskins (resident), and a sister species Black-capped Siskin. I wanted to post a link here to show what the perplexus ssp. look like, but not too much out there.� What I did find was an interesting, short article about the origins of North America's Siskin populations:
http://www.benthamscience.com/open/tooenij/articles/V001/46TOOENIJ.pdf
In addition to shedding light on the origin of NA Siskins, it has a couple of photos too.� A better photo of a Black-capped Siskin can be seen here where the yellow/green really comes out!
http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/black-capped-siskin-carduelis-atriceps/male-black-capped-siskin-carduelis-atriceps
Jason Berry
Washington, DC
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From: Mark Johnson <mj3151...>
To: <mdbirding...>
Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2012 9:17 PM
Subject: [MDBirding] Extralimital, but maybe interesting
I spent some time birding in Delaware yesterday and
had a couple interesting firsts while I was there. The first was a yellow morph
(or green, depending who you ask) Pine Siskin at Cape Henlopen. Sibley says
yellow, and that they're usually seen in the southwest. This guy didn't just
have bright yellow wing bars. He was washed with yellow all over, top and
bottom...very striking, especially sitting next to a couple of the more normal
looking ones.
�
Later on I hit Prime Hook NWR and was fascinated as
I watched a swirling starling flock (murmuration) go after a Peregrine Falcon.
Customary roles were reversed and the starlings repeatedly jockeyed for position
above the falcon, then dived straight down, only to barely miss him, gather
themselves, and repeat the process. There were several repeat performances
before the falcon had enough and vacated the area. It was very cool to watch. I
took a sequence of photos and posted a few. I also posted some shots of the
yellow Siskin. Enjoy. http://www.flickr.com/photos/27381338@N03/8088381389/in/photostream�
�
Mark Johnson2
Aberdeen,
MD
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