![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-7135-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"green-tailed-towhee-7135-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nYesterday morning in the Wasatch Mountains I photographed my first juvenile of this species (or at least my first decent shot of one).<\/p>\n
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1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n At first “he” was hidden in\u00a0a dense\u00a0thicket and below a small hill but soon he popped up and gave me about a dozen shots before he took off.\u00a0Several of the field marks of the adult are\u00a0evident including the bright greenish-yellow edging on wings and tail and that whitish spot between the upper mandible and eye. The prominent gape is\u00a0evidence of a juvenile.<\/p>\n Some readers might wonder why I’d even post a shot like this. After all it’s far from a photo to brag about in the\u00a0conventional sense\u00a0because a significant portion of the bird is hidden by annoying branches and twigs in the\u00a0foreground. I’ll try to explain my reasoning.<\/p>\n I’ve often said that I’m not a traditional birder and I’m convinced that’s true. I don’t keep life lists or any other kind of list except for categorizing my photos by species on my computer\u00a0and I\u00a0almost never chase rarities. Birders tend to get very excited when they can tick a new species\u00a0off of one or more of\u00a0their several\u00a0lists no matter how far away it was.\u00a0I have little interest in such things.<\/p>\n However if I can photograph a new species\u00a0in at least pretty good detail\u00a0or\u00a0a different plumage variant (including juveniles), or even one of the sexes that has eluded my camera – now that gets my juices flowing. A “sighting” doesn’t really matter to me, it must be a decent photo. If categorizing birds by species on my computer makes me a birder then so be it but I don’t think so.<\/p>\n Thus this post.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This is what he’ll ‘grow up’ to look like – an adult Green-tailed Towhee singing its heart out in the Bountiful Peak area of Skyline Drive.<\/p>\n I’ll admit, the flashiness of the adult all perked up during breeding season is hard to beat but that juvie still made my day, despite any shortcomings of the image. Maybe it’s the biologist\/zoologist in me that likes documenting things like\u00a0life stages, interesting behaviors and even\u00a0unusual physical anomalies in my subjects.<\/p>\n I dunno but I don’t necessarily need ‘pretty bird photos’ to still enjoy them.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday morning in the Wasatch Mountains I photographed my first juvenile of this species.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-2142-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"green-tailed-towhee-2142-ron-dudley\\"")
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