![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/green-tailed-towhee-9524-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"green-tailed-towhee-9524-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nBy request.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1\/4000, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Two days ago in the mountains I had this Green-tailed Towhee in my viewfinder for quite a while and never did get any unobstructed shots of him. It was extra frustrating because he was singing for almost the entire time and I love singing poses.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n No matter where he moved to on the bush or where I moved my pickup to get a different shooting angle, my view of the little songster was still significantly blocked.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Many followers of Feathered Photography who don’t live in the west are likely unfamiliar with this species so here’s an older photo of one of these handsome sparrows where our view of him is almost entirely unobstructed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In 1969 when I was a college student, Green-tailed Towhees became my “spark bird”, when I chose them as my field study species while taking an Ornithology class at the University of Utah. Spark birds are variously defined as “the bird that helped spark your interest in birding” or “the species that mutates one’s benign regard for nature into a seething, immoderate interest in avifauna”. I spent many days in the field with binoculars and notebook trying to document their behaviors during breeding season and even though I didn’t realize it at the time, that experience hooked me on birds and birding (at least my version of “birding”).<\/p>\n Virtually every time I see Green-tailed Towhees those pleasant memories come flooding back, so two days ago while I was driving home after photographing the towhee in the first two photos above I spent some time reflecting on how much I owe to the species. My life would be infinitely poorer if Green-tailed Towhees hadn’t somehow sparked my love of birds.<\/p>\n So imagine my surprise when later that same day, blog follower William Irwin made the following comment on my blog:<\/p>\n “I enjoyed Stephen C.\u2019s message and I would be interested in hearing what bird species it was that your other followers first \u2018fell in love with\u2019. For me it was Barn Swallows and I was likely 4 years old. Maybe you can find a way to coax an answer of such out of your friends as part of a post. Thanks.”<\/em><\/p>\n William was essentially asking for readers to provide feedback about their personal “spark bird” experience and the more I thought about it the more I thought it might be a good idea. So in the comments below I invite readers to tell us what your spark bird was (assuming you had one) and to include a brief description of how and when it happened and how it may have influenced your life.<\/p>\n If you’re so inclined it should provide some interesting reading for us bird nuts.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By request. (3 photos)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/green-tailed-towhee-9602-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"green-tailed-towhee-9602-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/green-tailed-towhee-4684-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"green-tailed-towhee-4684-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n