Some people, especially birders, have a “Spark Bird”, a bird that resonated with them, or was otherwise special to them, that got them into birding. I’m sure that this is true for a variety of naturalists and outdoor enthusiasts.
I’m curious to know what your “Spark Organism” was, what organism got you into wildlife watching in general or in a particular field, and why you think this organism was so important.
My spark bird, and I think it counts for my spark organism as well, is the Blue Jay. When I was seven, my grandparents gave me my first of many field guides to North American birds and a plush Audubon Blue Jay. Where I lived at the time, Blue Jays were very common and the plush bird was very helpful in helping me to recognize its call. As a Hard of Hearing child, it was nice to be able to press the plush to repeatedly listen to the call as many times as I needed. I loved taking “Blue Gianna” the Blue Jay outside and listening to the Blue Jays reply to her call. I also liked to go out onto our balcony with a sketchbook and some pencils and draw the birds, but especially the Blue Jays, in our front yard.
I think that, among my many happy childhood memories of playing outside, my memories of the Blue Jays are especially vivid. Today, they still bring a smile to my face: they’re sassy, smart, and beautiful birds. (I have one at my feeder right now!)
Did anyone else have a species that got them into wildlife watching?
My spark bird that later got me into birding was the Golden-crowned Kinglet. I was pretty familiar with my typical backyard birds, and so I was amazed to discover a local bird that I had never even heard of and that made me wonder what other bird species I hadn’t yet discovered.
I would guess a lot of people on iNaturalist have been into nature for most of their lives, but I only actually started liking it around 3 years ago.
I’ve had a lot of “Sparks” like seeing a cougar, my brother showing me a swallowtail butterfly he caught, my bus driver showing me his passion for eagle photography, watching shows like Wild Kratts as a kid, and while they all contributed to my passion and love for nature today none of them lit the fire.
What lit that fire of passion was something really benign compared to everything else haha, in a random gaming Discord server someone posted a gif with Cubaris sp. “Rubber Ducky” isopods and gushed about how cool they are, and that small interaction is why I’m on iNaturalist and why I love nature today.
My spark was my dad. He would ask us to look for specific things on our hikes and camping trips that he wanted to photograph - usually fungi or flowers. The first one that I recall, his “white whale”, was Amanita muscaria. We were always on the lookout for it in places like Sanborn-Skyline Park, Butano State Park, and Big Basin Redwoods State Park. My favorite childhood memories are our annual camping trips and weekend hikes, enjoying and learning about nature, and doing these naturalist treasure hunts.
I don’t remember one species; more like a category. Growing up on the Rhode Island coast, I had frequent experience with beaches. I was a precocious reader – fifth grade level by the time I entered kindergarten. At some point very early, I must have come across a seashell book, and very quickly learned the names of all the seashells I came across: periwinkle, dog whelk, oyster drill, quahog, blue mussel, slipper shell, jingle shell (I thought the knobbed whelks were lightning whelks because I didn’t yet understand about the direction of the coil).
I think it would be very difficult for me to live far from the coast; I have driven across the Great Plains, and they seem like an alien world. When I decided to serve in the Armed Forces, there was no wavering – I knew that it would be the Navy.
For me, it wasn’t a particular organism, but a particular hike. I’ve always enjoyed observing nature but wasn’t particularly interested in learning more. Then, one spring day soon after I moved to live near the Grampians, I was walking up Briggs Bluff, and the sheer number and variety of flowers struck me. I started taking photos, learning and expanding my knowledge and interests, and I’ve never looked back.
(In terms of iNat more specifically, it was a few years before I took the plunge, though I’d heard of it - honestly, I wanted to learn to ID plants myself, not have others tell me what things were! It was actually someone I met on another hike who was talking about a friend using it which intrigued me enough to join - and I’ve never looked back from that yet, either!)
Although I first got fascinated with animals due to velvet ants and tarantula hawk wasps which are both native here, my spark animal that got me into my main focus which is herpetology is 100% Leopard Geckos. I love those little guys.
My spark organism is kind of an odd one: Tremella mesenterica (witches butter)
When I was a kid, probably around the age of 10, my Mom got me a mushroom guide pamphlet from a local conservation center. Witches Butter was one of the species on the guide, and as I was looking through my yard I managed to find some growing on a fallen oak log. Being able to identify that strange fungus cemented my love for nature and fungi, the rest is history.
There are so many interesting things to see and do and so little time.
First time it was a picture of a Blue Tit on a matchbox and I had to ask what it was. I borrowed a big illustrated bird book and started paying closer attention to them.
Second time it was Jonathan Livingstone.
Third time, going to a bird survey with a biology student friend of mine during a free weekend.
Finally, getting binoculars and taking it with us during travels.
Not a particular species, but a whole range of them… anything I could find in the woods and fields and roadsides with flowers; in short, wildflowers.
And, a beloved Biology teacher who shared and encouraged my interest.
One of my most prized books is a gift from her, an autographed first edition Peterson Field Guide to Wildflowers of Northeastern and North-central North America inscribed: “to someone who cares about wildflowers as much as I do! I hope it’s a very lasting interest - it’s fun for a lifetime.”
Many times I have wished I could assure her that I have never stopped caring, all these decades later!
Evening Grosbeaks. I was young – five? six? My grandmother had a feeder that attached to the window. If I sat very, very still, these big yellow birds would land about a foot away from me and eat sunflower seeds. Fascinating!
I’m not sure if it was before or after that – like before – that I sat on the floor in our dining room before anybody else was awake and chirped a conversation (through the glass) with a male House Sparrow who was advertising a potential nest site under shingles on the roof of our house. The sparrow probably wasn’t aware we were having a conversation, but I’ve been fond of these invasive birds eve since.
My spark organism was this Megalodacne heros that I found behind a dog house on my patio. It’s also the organism that helped me find iNaturalist. I used to be afraid of bugs and not at all interested in the natural world. Now I’m the top identifier for Erotylidae, and am doing research into the African Episcaphula and possible subgenera.
I would also say this Scissor Grinder Cicada I found near my old middle school would be another. It really got me into the idea of collecting insects, and I now have a diverse collection of many things (and a horrible backlog of things I need to pin and photograph).
Mine is a weird one I guess, Allosaurus. I was always interested in nature (especially all the bugs running around where I grew up) but I distinctly remember watching the Ballad of Big Al as a child and being blown away by how the scientists knew the life story of an animal that died over 100 million years before our earliest ancestors crawled out of the trees. I knew I didn’t want to just watch others do it, I wanted to actively contribute to the research and dissemination of information.
