Mary Allen
Most alien siskins come from North and South America. The hooded siskin is very popular. Few siskin breeders devote themselves to these species. They tell what it takes to keep them.
Siskins (Spinus) belong to the finch family. We have the alder and redpoll, the Himalayan or Tibetan polka dot is widespread in Tibet, but the majority of the polka dot species can be found in North and South America. Around 19 species live there in different habitats, ranging from mountain forests to bushy terrain to cultivated land. Some of these are popular in aviculture, but few breed enthusiasts focus on them.
Hans-Paul Gäumann from Schlosswil in Bern has dedicated himself to the siskins. “They are beautiful, agile, and you can let them in the outside aviaries in winter without any problems,” says the member of the International Carduelid Club (ICC), where siskin breeders also meet. Gäumann keeps his Zeisigarten in aviaries with combined indoor spaces. “It’s better to breed them in pairs in a box,” he admits, pointing to two pairs of black-breasted siskins that he keeps in a combined indoor and outdoor aviary.
Privacy Screen
“Although there have been attempts to build nests, the pairs disturb each other,” explains Gäumann. Siskins are peaceful with each other outside of the breeding season. But when a pair has found itself and wants to breed, all other birds are chased away. A pair in a box can therefore pursue the breeding business unhindered. Black-breasted Siskins originate from the Central American land bridge, where they live particularly in the highlands. Not least because of this, they are tolerant of colder temperatures.
Gäumann hangs wire baskets, like those used for canaries, in the boxes as nesting aids. Before that, he fixed a privacy screen so the couple had their privacy. The pairs build the cup-shaped nests in the nesting aids with sisal and coconut fibers, which he attaches to the outside of the boxes in small racks. Black-breasted Siskins incubate the four eggs for 14 days. The nestling period lasts three to four weeks. After two weeks, the young should be separated from the adult birds, because they are usually suddenly chased away by the breeding male.
The Yarrell siskin also has an attractive black and yellow basic plumage, just like the black-breasted siskin. But you know him by his black headstock. The black runs from the beak over the eye to the back of the head. It is distributed from eastern Venezuela to Brazil and lives in forests on river banks, in gardens, and in parks. He also flies up from field edges, where he attacks seeds.
Impressively Beautiful Hooded Siskin
Like all siskins, the Yarrell siskin loves oily seeds. The birds should be able to fly in an aviary, otherwise, there is a risk that they will accumulate too much fat. The peculiar German name honors William Yarrell, an English bookseller, naturalist, and ornithologist. The scientific name is Spinus yarrellii. The first describer, John James Audubon, thus honored Yarrell in 1839.
The completely differently colored hooded or fire siskin comes from Venezuela. The male’s plumage glows a deep red like fire when conditionally up to par. Only its head and part of the wing and tail feathers are black. Gäumann has specialized in breeding hooded siskins. “They and the Yarrell siskins are at their prettiest in plumage when they can go outside.” He also breeds the hooded siskin in boxes, but then keeps the young after becoming independent or unmated single birds in a long, large garden aviary.
They too have access to an interior space through a barred channel. So that they accept the food well and find their way through the canal, Gäumann also has Australian rush finches in the aviary. “They show them the way inside and unabashedly go for the food so that the more reserved hooded siskins do the same.”
It’s little wonder that hooded siskins caused a stir when well-known pet dealer Carl Hagenbeck first imported them around 1870. The deep red in the plumage of the male is captivatingly beautiful. The female has a gray head instead of a black one, the red part of the feathers is far less, the red in the female is pale. Male hooded siskins in captivity will also fade red if not fed properly.
However, Hans-Paul Gaumann does not use any artificial dyes, such as those used by canary breeders, but rather uses natural products. “I feed grated carrots and marigold seeds,” he says. Tagetes seeds contain a high proportion of the yellow pigment lutein. Lutein is an orange-yellow xanthophyll, one of the most common carotenoids. Canary breeders crossed hooded siskins with canaries. This is how the color red came into canary breeding.
But the pure breeding of the hooded siskin is an important task for bird breeders. In their native Venezuela, they are threatened because they are caught for the local cage bird trade. For Gäumann it is therefore important that the species is bred in its natural form so that it could eventually be resettled. An advantage of the hooded siskin is its peacefulness. The species can therefore also be socialized with other bird species that are about the same size.