Six sip siskin

My turn to walk the dog today. I was able to hang about a bit and approach one of the big flocks of birds moving through the valley. More siskins than I could think up names for. They had found a little patch of stream that they liked for drinking and I watched individual males among the constantly changing hoard come down and each take six sips before flitting off. Like all birds I have seen drinkng they do a graceful little scoop and then lift their heads to let it trickle down inside their gullet.