This morning I thought I saw my long-awaited Lesser Goldfinch at my water
feature. I grabbed the bins and much to my surprise the bird was a pine
siskin. I thought it must be the green-morph variety as it was almost
completely yellow. Since I had never seen a green-morph siskin I did a
little research. I am now about 90% convinced the bird was a male Eurasian
Pine Siskin. The black cap and black wing coverts were distinctive, even at
40-feet with the naked eye. it was vivid in the bins. In fact the black cap
is what first made me think I had found my long-awaited Lesser Goldfinch. I
have been watching intently for about two hours now and have not seen the
bird again. I will keep watching and I have camera-in-hand to try to
document the bird. As I said I am not yet completely convinced that I have
correctly ID'ed the bird since the viewing time was extremely short. Even if
the ID is correct provenance is going to be a problem with any BRC. I am
hoping that the bird remains as the goldfinches and siskins are actively
attending my feeders, the front yard birch catkins, and the neighbors
heavily cone laden cypress.

Doug Schonewald
Moses Lake, WA