Wild Birds: Eastern Towhee

                                 

To quote the Cornell Lab,"The Eastern Towhee is a strikingly marked, oversized sparrow of the East, feathered in bold black and warm reddish-browns – if  you can get a clear look at it. Eastern Towhees are birds of the undergrowth, where their rummaging makes far more noise than you would expect for their size. Their chewink calls let you know how common they are, but many of your sightings end up mere glimpses through tangles of little stems."
For the better part of a year that is exactly how I saw this bird. It would feed on the ground under a feeder that had a bush beside of it. I would try to take a photo looking through my window and down at the ground. Rarely it would sit on a nearby wisteria branch too far away for a very good photo. Last March was my first encounter with the Towhee. I had been feeding the birds for seven years and hadn't seen one until then.  I watched one come and go and again it stayed pretty much in the undergrowth. I think I got one good photo last March.

These past few weeks I caught glimpses again of this pretty little bird. That was until the twelve plus inches of snow a couple of weeks ago. With the ground covered there was nothing for it to do except follow the cardinals and blue jays and fly up to the feeder and deck rails. AND, I was able to count four together at one time. Since the snow is gone now and the temperature has risen (70 degrees on Monday) I haven't seen any but it is nice to know they are around. I enjoyed their company and know I'll see them again.

Linking to Wild Birds with Stewart

Wild Birds

I always see hawks flying around the field between me and my neighbor. Ever since the first of March I have often seen a pair. In the five years we've lived here this is the first time I've seen two at once. Last Tuesday I saw this guy. He was too far for a close up but for the record I wanted to know he'd been here. I didn't download my memory card until yesterday. Do you see what I did when I examined the photo? Look closely at that walnut limb that got in my way. See the feet and tail feathers? Yep, his good ole matey was right there.

 

This Eastern Towhee has also been around for a couple of weeks. It's the first winter they have visited the bird feeders. He's a little shy and hangs back in the wisteria vines so I haven't been able to get a good portrait of him either but he's a welcome addition to the flock.

EDITED: The comments indicate I should provide more info on where to look in the first photo. Look at the bottom of the dark limb on the right where it seems to jut into the photo and you can just barely see the feet and tail feathers of the other hawk.

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday (on Tuesday).