The Pine Siskin is generally an uncommon winter visitor that may not show up in the area every winter. When it does appear, it shows up in late October and leaves by late April. It can rarely be seen in the Omaha area through the summer.

The Pine Siskin is generally an inhabitant of coniferous or mixed coniferous-deciduous forests. An unpredictable winter visitor, it is a nomadic, irruptive species abundant in a given locality one year and often absent the next. Presumably this pattern is related in some way to annual variation in the distribution and abundance of seeds that make up the bulk of its diet. The reproductive schedule and attachment to a particular breeding area appear to be less rigidly fixed in the Pine Siskin than in many other songbirds. In some cases, members of an irruptive population may linger on a favorable wintering ground long enough to breed. It often associates with Goldfinches in the winter. The call is a rough rising “zzsshreeeeee”.