Spring 12: Gesture of the Day

6:30am-7:30am, Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plain, MA
ripply overcast, cool

The best moment of sunrise was just before dawn today. The rippled blanket of cloud suddenly was burning pink, its ridges lit extra deep. Gorgeous!

This was the "phrase du jour" on the hill - every robin seemed to toy with it, creating cool echo and stereo effects:


Here it is in whistled form, just to confirm what it is:


I'm very curious what the deal is with these robins. Are they young birds slowly building their repertoire? Old hands getting warmed up and back in the swing of things?

Furthermore, there was that Arboretum factoid about how winter robins were not "ours", but neighbors migrating from further North (while our robins had gone south). How can I tell when ours have come back? Seems like if it's warm enough to change tacks and start singing, these may be our original robins returned?

A bonus nod to this little bird, I think a goldfinch, whose call was so striking to me. The second and third calls on this clip have the exact melodic and rhythmic countour as a phrase with which my sister sometimes comforts my baby nephew ("Eh, googoo!"). It was sweet to hear in bird-speak!