{"id":71485,"date":"2019-05-04T05:37:41","date_gmt":"2019-05-04T11:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=71485"},"modified":"2019-05-04T08:18:33","modified_gmt":"2019-05-04T14:18:33","slug":"my-spark-bird-green-tailed-towhee-from-yesterday-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2019\/05\/04\/my-spark-bird-green-tailed-towhee-from-yesterday-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"My Spark Bird – Green-tailed Towhee From Yesterday Morning"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Green-tailed Towhee is understudied and remains one of North America’s least well-known birds. So my history with it is more than a little ironic.<\/p>\n

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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D\u00a0 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

I photographed this male (only males sing and this guy was singing his heart out much of the time) yesterday morning in the mountains near Salt Lake City. Migrant bird activity in the mountains is still a little slow and finding him kept me from being bird-skunked.<\/p>\n

In this pose we get a pretty good look at his namesake green tail but just before he began to sing consistently he…<\/p>\n

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1\/4000, f\/5.6, 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<\/p>\n

hid his tail from me.<\/p>\n

Their secretive and elusive tendencies are one of the primary reasons so little is known about their life history and ecology but once males begin singing on territory they tend to be much more “sticky.” Their singing bouts typically range from 8 -15 minutes and can be as long as 27 minutes and this one performed for me for quite a while. Here’s a link to a video of a singing male<\/a> if you have the interest.<\/p>\n

In 1969 when I was a senior at the University of Utah I took an Ornithology class from the legendary Dr. William H. Behle<\/a> and my field study species for that class was the Green-tailed Towhee. In my ignorance I had chosen one of the most difficult to study birds in North America and I remember well the challenges of finding them and then getting close enough to make any meaningful observations.<\/p>\n

But I enjoyed my time in the field with them so much that I became hooked on birds and here I am today 50 years later, still obsessed by them.<\/p>\n

And that’s why I call the Green-tailed Towhee my “spark bird”.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/em><\/p>\n