My Spark Bird – Mark Lupher

How you might ask, can a small, nondescript brown bird spark a lifelong interest in all things birds? 72 years ago in 1952 I saw this tiny creature walking head first down an elm tree in our backyard in Nebraska - a Brown Creeper. Why, I wondered, does he alone among birds do this? I still seek answers to questions like this.

When the word spread of my interest in birds at Clarkson Elementary school, my teacher and classmates helped me acquire a collection of 52 baking soda cards, each with an illustration of a common bird and a story about it on the back. This became my first “bird guide”. Two years later, income from a paper route, allowed me to purchase Roger Tory Peterson’s “Field Guide to Eastern Birds” for $7.00. Thus began my Life List.

In late April this year, my wife and constant companion of 60 years and I, hooked up the camper and set out to Nebraska. After visiting the graves of my ancestors, we continued on to Indiana to see our granddaughter Irene and by May 1, we met with our daughter Kerry and then began a month long birding quest through Michigan, Minnesota, No. Dakota, Montana, and finished the month back in Idaho - 5300 miles in all! We tallied 183 species on the trip, 21 of which were Life Birds for me. The quest continues!

Brown Creeper