Yesterday morning my spark bird was re-sparked.
Late yesterday afternoon just before 5PM my internet provider announced that internet in my area would be going down for six hours, until 6 AM this morning, due to “scheduled maintenance” (with further inquiry I learned that a server was failing). I was busy last night with other things and I hadn’t even started on today’s post so I had no idea how I was going to get it done in time for publishing this morning.
Thankfully, internet came back on earlier than expected this morning but the overall result for Feathered Photography is a post with only one photo.
1/5000, f/5.6, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
Yesterday morning in the Wasatch Mountains I was absolutely delighted when this presumed male Green-tailed Towhee allowed me a fairly close approach while he was singing on territory. He continued to sing for a long time while I had him in my viewfinder so I got lots of ‘melodious’ photos of him, most looking much like this one.
Readers may recall that the Green-tailed Towhee was my “spark bird”. In the spring of 1969 while I was taking an ornithology class at the University of Utah the Green-tailed Towhee was my chosen field study species in a mountain canyon between Salt Lake City and Park City. I ended up spending many hours, over weeks, traipsing through the sagebrush with binoculars in hand as I looked for Green-tailed Towhees and attempted to study their nesting behavior.
Over time my field study evolved into a labor of love and it turned out that Green-tailed Towhees and that college class sparked my love of birds.
Today my field study area is gone, flooded by Little Dell Reservoir. More bird habitat lost in order to supply water for the thirsty residents of Salt Lake Valley. Including me.
But my love for birds remains.
Ron
PS – As of 6:30 this morning today’s post email still hasn’t been sent out to subscribers. At least I haven’t received mine. I don’t know what’s going on.
Update: The post email was finally sent out at 6:43, 45 minutes late.
If a post contains only one bird and it is as pleasing a shot as this one of your spark bird, that’s one heckuva good post. So much to like about this shot too, from the bokeh to the perch to the details of the singing bird, itself — the red cap, the white throat, and the chartreuse on the wings and tail. As others have commented, we’ve ALL benefitted from your 1969 ornithology class. VBG, as Dick would say. 😃
Much appreciated, Marty. I miss having Dick around.
Me too. 💜
At least your isp warned you. Mine often does not.
Your spark bird made your life better – and has improved mine too. And that of many other regular visitors to your posts as well I am sure.
“At least your isp warned you.”
They not only warned me, EC – they also responded quickly and appropriately to my email when I complained to them a little about the very short notice for a “planned” outage. I didn’t expect them to respond at all and I told them how “refreshing” it was that they did.
Beautiful photo. I am glad you discovered birds. I did not visit the area before the reservoir but Little Dell is still one of my favorite wanderings. For a couple of years it is where I release many rehab birds. It still has wonderful undisturbed habitat. Hope the remainder stays that way.
Thanks, April. You know the area where I was. I found this towhee and one other – other than that I saw very few songbirds up there.
A beautiful photo Ron. I’m happy that your internet came back in time for you to get this out in the world, and even happier that this bird, or at least its species, sparked some lifelong interests for you.
Much appreciated, Bill. I’m much indebted to Green-tailed Towhees.
Wonderful photo. I wish we had them here but I need to travel east of the Cascades to find them. Even then they are not easy to find and seldom show themselves so well as your photo. I think you picked a difficult but very worthy field study. It’s always rewarding, for student and instructor to see a bird that sparks a life-long interest in birds. I once had a student who was taking my class only because she needed a few more credits to graduate. For her, a Western Tanager changed all that. She got very excited about birds and went to South America to do a field study and on to get a PhD in Ornithology.
“I think you picked a difficult but very worthy field study.”
You’re sure right about that, Dan. Here’s what Cornell has to say about that :
“The Green-tailed Towhee remains one of North America’s least well-known birds, despite being fairly common throughout much of its range. Lack of knowledge of the life history and ecology of this species may result from its secretive nature, and the fact that individuals spend much of their time on or near the ground in thick, shrubby habitats.”
Good thing I didn’t know it at the time or I might not have chosen them as my study species.
Beautiful photo of a beautiful bird. Have never seen one. We have a family of Spotted Towhees living in a Photinia hedge and as you know they keep you well aware of their presence.
Enjoyed Michael’s response and will check out that book he mentions that I have never read nor heard of.
Today we remember those thousands of brave men who stormed the beaches of Normandy to start the quest to crush the Nazis.
Everett, Michael made me curious about that book too,
I keep thinking about my dad this morning. He wasn’t at Normandy but he was a rifleman/flame thrower operator during the invasion of Okinawa, which was epic in its own way.
For sure Ron. Okinawa was a conquest that squeezed everything out of our forces that they could possibly give. This was now encroaching on Japanese homeland territory. Thank goodness he made it out of there. I served in the Navy for 5 years, but during very peaceful times.
Superb shot!
Thanks, Charlotte.
Is it a trick of the light, or is the upper beak shorter than the lower?
A classic bird portrait. Could have been painted by Audubon.
Thank you, Sallie.
Subtle but pretty bird…….. 🙂 Your “spark bird” has ended up being a great gift to all of us who follow you….. 🙂
Our technology is great until it isn’t! Glad yours is “sorted” for the moment.
At least one Night Hawk and one Eastern King Bird have made their appearance. Pair of Red-tailed Hawks cruised the area for much of yesterday and complained mightily when the smaller birds took exception……..;)
Judy, the first time I saw groups of nighthawks in flight was maybe 30 years ago, at the mouth of a really neat canyon on a beautiful early morning in southwest Montana. I don’t remember which canyon but I do remember that it was that area of MT.
It is said you can’t keep a good man down. But I imagine that was said in a time before the internet became both a vital – and at times a great frustrating – part of our lives.
What cannot be suppressed is our interests and desires (of birds in our case).
It has been about half a century since I first read the 1963 book “As The Falcon Her Bells” by Phillip Glasier. My original hard copy still sits on my bookshelf. I still feel its magic.
The title comes from Shakespeare’s play “As You Like It” , Act iii. Scene 3.
“As the ox hath his bow, Sir, the horse his curb, and the falcon her bells , so man hath his desires.”
To your “labor of love” sir.
Thanks, Michael. A labor of love that changed my life. For the better.
Have you heard about The Spark Bird Project. My daughter, Jenn Hebrank, started the project to gather birders’ spark bird stories.
http://www.spark-bird.org
A beautiful portrait– all that green, Towhee AND his surroundings,
perfectly “sparked” by his strikingly RED cap—-so complimentary!
Thanks, Kris. I love their red cap. In this photo I just wish we could see his green tail better.