Monkey see, monkey do?
Probably not but that phrase came to mind when I was culling these and other images last night.
1/6400, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
Two weeks ago I spent some time with this Townsend’s Solitaire as it was foraging for hackberries in the Wasatch Mountains. The bird was having a difficult time balancing on top of the berry-laden bush and my shutter happened to fire at a moment when I caught its right wing up as the bird momentarily lost its balance.
Kind of an interesting pose but nothing spectacular.
1/6400, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
But less than five minutes later from the same shooting location I caught this Loggerhead Shrike in a pose that was almost identical to that of the solitaire. And the shrike lifted its wings for the same reason, to regain balance on a precarious perch. Neither bird was in the process of taking off. Perhaps the wind was blowing, I don’t remember.
A minor coincidence to be sure but I still took note of it for the following reasons:
- in each case this wing position lasted for only about 1/100th of a second but my shutter timing was perfect to capture it in both instances
- they occurred in almost the same location only minutes apart with two birds of different species
- both birds were facing the same direction and my shooting angle was similar for each
I suspect only a bird photographer would notice how unlikely this coincidence actually was and notice I did.
Much ado about nothing? Probably. I guess that’s the price to pay for taking a Statistics class in college and learning some of the rules of probability. I hated that class (it was taught poorly) but some of it must have sunk in.
Ron
I’m the weirdo that LOVED my stats classes — so much so that I became a TA for the prof (and we’re still friends 35 years later).
Three statisticians go hunting. They come across a beautiful stag in a clearing. The first statistician aims and shoots — wide to the left. The second statistician aims and shoots — wide to the right. The third statistician throws down his gun and says, “Hot damn! We got him!” 😉
Great shots, Ron. I like watching nature be a little off-kilter (makes me feel better about my own klutziness). 😉
Wow, that IS weird!
That sounds like statistician humor, if such a thing exists… 🙂
That’s my only statistician joke, although I do have a good one about engineers. 😉
Love both images.
Loathe statistics, which are too often manipulated in self-serving ways.
And yes, a good teacher makes a HUGE difference. Thank you teach.
You make a good point about statistics being manipulated, EC – especially in the political arena but elsewhere too.
You are, no doubt, already familiar with this, but I just learned today that there is a bill in the House — H.R. 2426 — that will help protect photographers and other artists from having their work stolen. Apparently the vote will happen this week. I am hoping all artists interested in this will contact their representative letting them know that this is important to us.
Thanks for bringing this up, Buff. I actually signed the letter to congress supporting that bill early this morning.
Another thing we have in common — statistics. It was my least favorite, most boring class of my undergraduate life. Very poorly taught by someone who really should have retired several years earlier. Maybe it’s just the subject matter, but somebody must be able to make it exciting. But we both found a greater appeal in the biological sciences that can make coincidences, like the one you show here, to be fascinating. I really like the comparison.
Thank you, Dan.
I know that class could have been much more interesting if taught well. In other classes that focused on statistics in the context of both genetics and evolution I thought it was much more interesting but those classes had better teachers. Teachers make a difference!
Oh NO! Statistics!! Statistics are EVIL! How about we use serendipitous instead? It’s much more friendly! I have a story about that statistics class, but it has nothing whatsoever to do with birds, so I’ll move on. Suffice that I JUST passed it by a nose but it affected my otherwise perfect GPA forever!
Anyway, what an interesting serendipitous coincidence to catch two different species inhabiting the same spindly branch seconds apart and facing the same balance issues! Oddly, redtails will do the same thing, perching on the topmost spindliest branch of (often) an evergreen tree. In their case, the bough will bend to the breaking point while the hawk struggles for balance. My takeaway is that overall, it’s a good thing to have wings as backup for balance issues. And those balance issues are becoming more important as I grow older.
I wanted to tell you how muck I enjoyed the redtail with warm colors. Yes, you knew I would, but it’s always good to see the young ones surviving, especially given their statistics (and there’s that ugly word again)!
“How about we use serendipitous instead? It’s much more friendly”
Hell, an angry snapping turtle is more friendly, Laura!
And I have a story about that statistics class similar to but worse than yours but I think I’ll keep it to myself because it doesn’t reflect well on me…
The “struggle for balance” you mention of red-tails trying to perch at the very top of trees gives photographers many opportunities for interesting photos.
How fortunate to have two matching photos of different birds. Both very good photos as well. What really stood out to me was that you got a catch-eye with the Shrike that is often so hard to come by, and then compare that with the Solitaire whose catch-eye must be one of the easiest of all birds. I’m laughing at Marines and Psychology. I have a brother-in-law who is a retired Sergeant Major and former drill sergeant who fought in both battles for Fallujah who would say that Marine psychology comes down to I have given you an order, don’t think about it, just do it.:)
When I went to Navy boot camp a long long time ago, the psychology was very simple, you are no longer an individual, you are a team.
“I have given you an order, don’t think about it, just do it”
That’s pretty much how he tried to run the class, Everett. Or at least as close to it as he could get away with in a college setting.
I’m impressed that you got these two species with wings akimbo at about the same place and time in a total of .02 seconds.
Delightful that the two images evoked your classes in statistics and psychology.
Altogether, a typically engaging post; not at all a statistical outlier for you.
Lyle, actually those two photos were taken just over 4 minutes apart.
Some of the memories evoked about those classes weren’t particularly good ones but apparently I learned something nonetheless.
Copycats or not – the birds would have a tough time presenting you with more interesting poses. I don’t know how you would go about computing the probability of two such shots from the same location over a specific time period. But you would need to determine how different the wing positions could be and still be considered the “same” – i.e. how many of the shutter activations in the shots of each bird were judged to be the “same.” Seems like a good qualifying exam question for a candidate for a Ph.D. in statistics.
Ha, your comment literally made me laugh out loud, Dave! We think alike which is exactly why this particular coincidence caught my eye.
Statistics for Dummies is way better! I actually enjoyed reading that and learned a lot. I can’t even imagine being taught psychology by a retired marine officer! Did he have any credentials other than “life”? Great pictures. Love all the detail on the solitaire’s feathers.
“Statistics for Dummies is way better”
I’m sure it would have been, Beth Ann. I can’t remember his credentials.
I was attending Palomar Junior College in CA at the time and he had retired from nearby Camp Pendleton. I have my own prejudices about the effectiveness of the combination of “Marine” and “teaching psychology” and they were borne out, at least in this case. I learned relatively little about psychology but I sure heard a lot of interesting military stories.
Otherwise I had an excellent education at Palomar JC. In fact that was where I took a Human Anatomy class that first inspired my interest in life sciences so I’ll always be grateful for my experience at Palomar.
Interesting! 🙂 Quite a coincidence to capture both in the same area about the same time……. Weather conditions must have been right with both at the tippy top of the perch and facing the same way even with the Shrike appearing to have a sturdier perch. Statistics can be a boring, rotton class when poorly taught for sure… 😉
Judy, in hindsight the fact that they were facing the same direction suggests to me that there was a breeze or light wind.
That Statistics class was the worst class I took during my entire college career. The only other class that gave it a run for its money was a Psychology class taught by a recently retired officer in the Marines.