Green-tailed Towhee Lifer South Coast Botanic Garden Palos Verdes Penisula 040
W9 and I just had a new and colorful bird under our belt: The Summer Tanager. Los Angeles was being showered by something called "rain." Were the planets beginning to align? Was the Moon in the 7th house?
Packing the typical gear, we headed out to the South Coast Botanic Garden to find the reported Green-tailed Towhee. We have wanted this bird for years but were not willing to go to sketchy areas unless Jerry was with us. So this was our chance to nail this bird. And the garden is lovely! Nice clean bathrooms! Flush toilets! Free parking!
No sooner do we go into the Children's Garden (I know!) where the bird was reported seen than BINGO. The target bird is there! And singing his pants off! We can't believe our luck!!!!! If only it was this easy. Easy peasy. We are firing off shots and breathing ... all is right with the universe. No one is hungry, tired, lonely, or lost. Focus now. Get the bird. Get the shot. We have time to set up our camp stools.
And then it happens. Two parents with cameras and a child in tow zero in on us. It will be "what are you looking at?" time. (After all, we were in the “Children’s Garden.”) It is a lifer bird for us both. To make the situation worse, the child, a bit older than a toddler, has a camera equipped with a sizable lens. Not a bridge camera. I think it's a Nikon, but I'm doing that semi squeeze my eyes shut thing so that I don't take in any more information.
The trio is heading our way. My brain is shrieking Nooooooooooooo. The father is explaining things to the child about “background.” They stay a reasonable distance away but that's not good enough. With this camera hog of a bird we can just try to draw the family away. Try to get them distracted or better yet, bored.
W9 and I leave this posing beauty and whisper "We'll be back, my love. Wait for us."
But here's how it breaks down. The family sets up camp. We sneak back to check. We try shooting in an area close by with hummers. Who doesn't like hummers???? The mascot and symbol of this Botanic Garden! It’s almost working. The family moves closer to us. They aren't rude or pushy but I have no faith that they can resist the pull ... W9's monopod and all...
After an eternity they move on. We dive back in to get the Green-tailed Towhee. But now the little fart wants nothing to do with us. W9 tracks him, finds him. He briefly visited a puddle and then bolted. W9 finds him again, but this time he’s under bushes, foraging in the shadows. What the hell happened to the showy diva we met earlier when we arrived at the garden party???
So, allow me to present our latest lifer bird.
"There’s nothing quite like the color that gives the Green-tailed Towhee its name—a deep olive lightening to yellow-green on the edges of the wings and tail. Set off by a gray chest, white throat, and rufous crown, this large sparrow is a colorful resident of the West’s shrubby mountainsides and sagebrush expanses—if you can see one. They spend their time scratching at leaf litter under dense cover, occasionally popping into view to whistle a song or give a querulous mewing call." allaboutboids
Green-tailed Towhee Lifer South Coast Botanic Garden Palos Verdes Penisula 040
W9 and I just had a new and colorful bird under our belt: The Summer Tanager. Los Angeles was being showered by something called "rain." Were the planets beginning to align? Was the Moon in the 7th house?
Packing the typical gear, we headed out to the South Coast Botanic Garden to find the reported Green-tailed Towhee. We have wanted this bird for years but were not willing to go to sketchy areas unless Jerry was with us. So this was our chance to nail this bird. And the garden is lovely! Nice clean bathrooms! Flush toilets! Free parking!
No sooner do we go into the Children's Garden (I know!) where the bird was reported seen than BINGO. The target bird is there! And singing his pants off! We can't believe our luck!!!!! If only it was this easy. Easy peasy. We are firing off shots and breathing ... all is right with the universe. No one is hungry, tired, lonely, or lost. Focus now. Get the bird. Get the shot. We have time to set up our camp stools.
And then it happens. Two parents with cameras and a child in tow zero in on us. It will be "what are you looking at?" time. (After all, we were in the “Children’s Garden.”) It is a lifer bird for us both. To make the situation worse, the child, a bit older than a toddler, has a camera equipped with a sizable lens. Not a bridge camera. I think it's a Nikon, but I'm doing that semi squeeze my eyes shut thing so that I don't take in any more information.
The trio is heading our way. My brain is shrieking Nooooooooooooo. The father is explaining things to the child about “background.” They stay a reasonable distance away but that's not good enough. With this camera hog of a bird we can just try to draw the family away. Try to get them distracted or better yet, bored.
W9 and I leave this posing beauty and whisper "We'll be back, my love. Wait for us."
But here's how it breaks down. The family sets up camp. We sneak back to check. We try shooting in an area close by with hummers. Who doesn't like hummers???? The mascot and symbol of this Botanic Garden! It’s almost working. The family moves closer to us. They aren't rude or pushy but I have no faith that they can resist the pull ... W9's monopod and all...
After an eternity they move on. We dive back in to get the Green-tailed Towhee. But now the little fart wants nothing to do with us. W9 tracks him, finds him. He briefly visited a puddle and then bolted. W9 finds him again, but this time he’s under bushes, foraging in the shadows. What the hell happened to the showy diva we met earlier when we arrived at the garden party???
So, allow me to present our latest lifer bird.
"There’s nothing quite like the color that gives the Green-tailed Towhee its name—a deep olive lightening to yellow-green on the edges of the wings and tail. Set off by a gray chest, white throat, and rufous crown, this large sparrow is a colorful resident of the West’s shrubby mountainsides and sagebrush expanses—if you can see one. They spend their time scratching at leaf litter under dense cover, occasionally popping into view to whistle a song or give a querulous mewing call." allaboutboids