Common Sense Evaluation

Though my gray beginnings are not so pretty,
I grow quite well into my beauty.
Alabaster white or black as night,
My grace is known world wide.
I may make my home in the chilly Arctic,
I’m also known well down under,
From North America to South America I may be known to trumpet.
As a female I may Pen my name,
While the males may prefer to pick at a Cob.
But near or far my beauty is known by lore and by myth.

What am I?

What’s white when it’s dirty?