On my walk late this morning, I was serenaded by the shrill calls of an Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus), perched in the undergrowth along the roadside. I am not a birder, and have no intentions of beginning a life list. But I am pleased to say that this is a species of sparrow that I had never seen before.
On yet another in a near-endless stream of clear and sunny days, I set out for Piney Wood Church Road convinced, yet again, that I would bring back a macro image to share. I photographed quite a few still partly green oak leaves, backlit by the morning sun. I immersed myself in a couple of clumps of moss, too. My favorite photograph of the day, however, is this sparrow, perched on a barbed wire fence in front of an old barn (formerly used for mules that plowed the cotton fields in the area). He (or she) is gazing straight at me. Looking at this picture, I remember that, as I walk the road, I am under near-continual surveillance by a host of avian presences. Turkey buzzards circle overhead, a bluebird pauses on its territorial circuit to observe me from a pecan tree branch, and sparrows hunt for seeds in a cow pasture. Carrying my camera, it is easy for me to think of the Piney Woods Church Road landscape as a collection of objects to be photographed, rather than being alive, participatory. Then my eyes catch those of a sparrow, gazing back, and I know that I am not alone.
