Pine Grosbeaks, watercolour, 2006

Once, right around New Years, I looked out at the feeder and saw almost a dozen of these gorgeous pine grosbeaks who had arrived like a holiday gift from nature! They are so colourful that they look like tropical visitors with their red and grey bodies and black accented feathers, eyes and beaks. I must admit that I used some artistic licence here because these are all festively colourful males.  Female pine grosbeaks are drab green so I shallowly excluded them.

We have reached the end of our year in the backwoods.  There are still two or three months of winter left after the excitement of the holidays so I leave off with Robert Service's optimistic and encouraging poem "Cheer" to send you into the new year: "Yet still I declare, foul weather or fair, it’s a mighty good world after all."