The White Winged Scoter

White winged scoter, common eiders, buffleheads---the coastal birds that come down from the North to bask in the balmy waters of New England. The white winged scoter, while the slash of white on its eye is a distinguishing detail, has a reddish orange protuberance on its bill that really distinguishes the male. Once you've seen one there can be no mistake.

Being early for the bus I walked down to the water to take a look. What struck me as I watched this scoter was that reddish orange at the end of the bill. Why is there color in nature? Why do certain cells come together to pigment anything? There is the green of the grass; even in winter there is the blanched green of the sun starved privet. There is the creamy blotches on the bark of a sycamore; there is the blue frost burned on the winter sky. Why such color? Could it possibly be that there is an Artist's palette somewhere with an infinite variety of paints awaiting the coloration of the cosmos?