How to Draw a Pine Siskin

In this quick tutorial you'll learn how to draw a Pine Siskin in 6 easy steps - great for kids and novice artists.

The images above represent how your finished drawing is going to look and the steps involved.

Below are the individual steps - you can click on each one for a High Resolution printable PDF version.

At the bottom you can read some interesting facts about the Pine Siskin.

Make sure you also check out any of the hundreds of drawing tutorials grouped by category.

How to Draw a Pine Siskin - Step-by-Step Tutorial

Step 1: For the head, draw two curves that meet in a point on one side.

Step 2: Draw a vertical and horizontal line through the point to define the beak. Add a dot near the beak for the eye.

Step 3: Draw a downward curve from each end of the head.

Step 4: From the back of the head, draw a line curving back, with a smaller line a little underneath it. Draw a wavy line underneath it. Connect the two with a zig-zag line.

Step 5: Draw a line angling up and back from the back of the head. Draw another, wavy line from the midpoint of the wing. Connect the two with a zig-zag. Add another wavy line that goes from the meeting point of the body and first wing up to the end of this second wing.

Step 6: Close off the gap between the first wing and the end of the body with two downward curves that meet in a point for the tail. Add two circles on the bottom of the body for curled up feet. Done. You have drawn a beautiful pine siskin! You can color it brown on the upper parts and white on the under parts, with darker brown and white streaks all over the body and yellow patches on the wings and tail.

Interesting Facts about Pine Siskin

Pine Siskins are a tiny bird that lives in North America from Mexico to Canada and Alaska. In winter they can be found at most thistle feeders in the United States. They fly in large flocks and are very nomadic and travel across the continent erratically.Every couple years the Pine Siskin will make an unpredictable movement in Eastern and Southern North America. Some may fly west-east and others may fly north-south. These movements are called interruptions.

Did you know?

  • Some birds may stay near a reliable food source after a long winter flight and will breed far south than the breeding range.

Normal Pine Siskin size is 4.3 to 5.5 inches long and weighs 0.4 to 0.6 ounces with wingspans of 7.1 to 8.7 inches wide.

  • They can store seed up to 10% of their body weight in their throat. This could get them through 5-6 hours of nighttime subzero temperatures.
  • The Pine Siskin eggs are protected from cold in a very high insulated nest.
  • Pine Siskins prefer pine seeds from conifers like cedar, larch, hemlock and spruce. Sometimes you can see them feed upside down.
  • On cold nights, Pine Siskins can increase their metabolism by 40% than other songbirds their size. When temperatures get up to 94 degrees below zero, they can get the rate up to 5 times than normal for several hours in a row.

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