Serin or Siskin? (1 Viewer)

gerald762

Well-known member

• Oct 22, 2019

• #1

I always struggle to seperate these birds, so help will be appreciated. Taken today in Andalucia, Spain.

 

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Andrew Whitehouse

Professor of Listening

Supporter

• Oct 22, 2019

• #2

Serin

 

Nutcracker

Stop Brexit!

• Oct 22, 2019

• #3

Dito to Serin; for starters note the stort, stubby bill, Siskin has a longer, slenderer bill for getting seeds out of deeper crevices like between alder cone scales.

 

Jean FRANCOIS

Well-known member

• Oct 22, 2019

• #4

gerald762 said:

Sein or Siskin ?

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Sein = woman's breast in French.
Agree to a serin, not a sein ||
Jean

 

rollingthunder

Well-known member

• Oct 22, 2019

• #5

Not Teton? Nothing to do with Great Tit btw

Laurie:t:

 

kb57

Well-known member

• Oct 22, 2019

• #6

I wouldn't have thought this species pair were confusable until recently, when I watched a serin in Portugal, and was struck by how similar the barring on the flanks looked to a siskin - it initially made me doubt my ID. As Nutcracker says though, the bill shape is really very different.

 

Nutcracker

Stop Brexit!

• Oct 22, 2019

• #7

rollingthunder said:

Not Teton? Nothing to do with Great Tit btw

Laurie:t:

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That's a mountain in USA, not confusable 3

 

rollingthunder

Well-known member

• Oct 23, 2019

• #8

Grand Tetons National Park - similiar to our ‘Paps’ of Jura...

Laurie:t:

Re: Serin i don’t really find them confusable with Siskin at all and i only ever see them once annually on a foreign trip.

 

kb57

Well-known member

• Oct 23, 2019

• #9

rollingthunder said:

Re: Serin i don’t really find them confusable with Siskin at all and i only ever see them once annually on a foreign trip.

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It's great you have that skill level, but I can understand the OPs confusion. I never have thought so before, but a brief glimpse of the flanks in a eucalyptus tree of what I'd presumed was a serin, before I got a decent view out in the open, certainly looked siskin-like (although siskin was much less likely in the location / habitat - edge of orange grove on the coast).

 

dantheman

Bah humbug

• Oct 23, 2019

• #10

Yes - they are definitely superficially similar. Depending on views and previous experience could be confused for sure imo. Out of range, unexpected ...

rollingthunder said:

Re: Serin i don’t really find them confusable with Siskin at all and i only ever see them once annually on a foreign trip.

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That's confusing

 

gerald762

Well-known member

• Oct 23, 2019

• #11

Many thanks for the replies. I am relieved that some other people found it difficult to differentiate between these birds.