Feb 8th 2009

Standing on the roadside by the Sky Bear sign waiting for our guests, Paula and Scott to arrive, peripherally i became aware of some activity in a little grove of red spruce nearby. A pair of pine siskens were flitting about, slowly capturing my attention.This spruce, Picea rubens, is just outside its range here, the seedlings having been given to us by a neighbor some years ago. The Native Trees of Canada book tells me that the cones of the red spruce are persistent, hanging on throughout the winter. That was indeed the attraction, this dayThe siskens, that we rarely if ever see at the feeders, were working the branches. They would detach a single cone and place it neatly in their tiny feet. Then while perching, they would quickly remove the scales with their beaks to reveal the seeds, their sustenance.I've returned over the past several days, at the same and different times, and have never observed this again. The interface between the rare trees and the seldom seen birds has not been repeated, though many cones remain.What else is going on out there, just out of our view or time frame? Coincidence, design and happenstance underlie some of what we can't explain or choose not to.