April 19, 2006

Grosbeaks!


The signs of spring are improving, except for the lack of an April blizzard, compared to what I wrote before. Spring beauties, pasque flowers, dandelions, and sand lilies are all blooming.

The interesting part is watching the wild plums bloom sequentially up our road. The "bloom front" (is there a technical term for that?) takes about a week to go a mile, even though there is only a slight rise in elevation.

I need to re-do the wildflower page that I linked to. I do have plum-blossom photos now. Here is the Pedro de Castañeda quote with links:

There are plums like those of Castille . . ." wrote Pedro de Castañeda, chronicler of the expedition led by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado through the American Southwest (1540-1542).

He was not in Colorado, but these are similar plums.

And M. just called from home to say that two evening grosbeaks were visiting one of the sunflower-seed feeders.

1 comment:

Chas S. Clifton said...

The black-headed grosbeaks are sweet singers, but the evenings have this almost tropical look to them that makes them sort of a novelty here in the spring, with their big greenish-yellow beaks.