Hi Tanya, That was a beautiful description of your experience of being with the pine grosebeaks. I too, love the winter finches, especially pine grosebeaks. Happy birding, Don Wanschura, Richfield, Mn
________________________________ From: Tanya Beyer <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2012 10:14 AM Subject: [mou-net] Feasting on Park Point in Duluth Over a week ago there were pine grosbeaks in the crabapple trees that line the avenue toward the playground on Park Point; today it seemed that every crab tree had its pair or trio of differently-colored grosbeaks, and it was a stop-and-go process to observe them all as they tamely tolerated a fairly close approach on foot. What I love best about pine grosbeaks, even better than their several plumages that suggest beautiful frosting and bakery art, is their exuberant soft calls. If a listener were to hark back to Greek or other mythology it might even be said that the calls are the long-faded shouts of dead innocents who played along these pathways before we ever knew them as adults and maybe put up with their other aspects. It seems that the crossbills and evening grosbeaks also have something of this quality in their voices, a kind of flattened, minimal whoop of glee, maybe a revelry about the huge boreal forest expanses they're privileged to fly across. But the exuberance is muted, in the way that the speaking voices of many northern people are softer than the voices of people from more crowded places to the south. Wind chimes, distant children and slipped-away memory all come to mind in an assessment of these calls. I was looking for the mountain bluebird, once seeing something baby blue down on the grass of the ball field and snapping to attention but it was only a crushed cup catching the sun. However, tree sparrows were present along the shoreline, and with the fruit-picking grosbeaks down on the ground were juvenile robins. Anything seems possible in the movements of birds lately, with the shifty weather and the approach of what may be another non-winter. *Tanya Beyer - d.b.a. Epiphanies Afield, Natural History Art from the North American heartland * See and order note cards, frameable prints and original art at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/EpiphaniesAfield Artworks can be viewed at mnartists.org - search by name: Tanya Beyer Want a signature like mine? <http://r1.wisestamp.com/r/landing?promo=21&dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wisestamp.com%2Femail-install%3Futm_source%3Dextension%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3Dpromo_21> CLICK HERE.<http://r1.wisestamp.com/r/landing?promo=21&dest=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wisestamp.com%2Femail-install%3Futm_source%3Dextension%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3Dpromo_21> ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
