----- Original Message ----- The following is a message sent to the Carolina Bird Listserv by Mark Simpson Monday, June 16, 2008 Pine Siskins are one of the more erratic birds of the southern Blue = Ridge Province. Some years in large numbers; other years hard to find, = if not entirely absent. This year they are conspicuous in the Blacks, at = Roan, and in smaller numbers on Grandfather Mountain. The loose flocks = in the Blacks and at Roan seem to be breaking up into pairs now that = June has arrived. At Roan last weekend pairs were gleaning seeds from = Dandelions (Taraxacum spp.) and flying off to who knows where, maybe to = nests. Evidence of their breeding in the region has been around for some = time. At least one documented nest containing young birds has been = reported in the Plott Balsam Mountains, on the main ridge line running = east from Waterrock Knob- see Chat volume 57, p. 47-49, 1993. I believe = that Art Stupka lists some of the early records of young siskins out of = the nest in the Smokies, see his Notes on the Birds of Great Smoky = Mountains National Park U. Tenn. Press), which is long out of print. = Even farther back, John Cairns of Weaverville stated that they were = breeding in the Black Mountains in the late 1890s, but I don't recall = that he ever gave any supporting details, such as dates, locations, = young or eggs, so he may have just been guessing based on their year = round presence there. This may be a "good" year for them. Birders in the mountains should stay = alert for nesting evidence and report the same if seen. Mark Simpson