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Yellow-headed Blackbird
Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
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Etymology: From the Greek xantho (yellow) + cephalus (headed).
Shot in a marsh in a large grassland in Sierra Valley - rich alluvial soil formed by fire and ice long ago. One of the few remaining wild marshes.
America is a country founded on a "pioneering" spirit. We live in awe of the founders, the explorers, the brave and intrepid people who came to the west. Our concept of landscape, and nature, I believe, is based on that pioneering spirit. We want to see the world that Lewis and Clark saw. We want to visit the world that Alfred Bierstadt painted.
The original central valley basin when John Muir first saw it was one of the most impressive concentrations of wildlife in North America. The tule elk, pronghorn, wolf, and grizzly that once roamed the valley are gone; the great marshes along its west side have been mostly drained and filled; the carpet of wildflowers that once awed John Muir has been replaced by the orderly geometry of thriving farms.
Can we learn to appreciate this new landscape? Do we understand cultures who have a different point of view about inspirational landscapes? Tomorrow a picture from the new landscape.
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Focal length: 500 mm
fStop: 5.6
ISO: 400
Shutter Speed: 1/1000 sec.
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Loyalton, CA - Heriot Lane
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May 18, 2010
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