Green-tailed Towhee male singing on sage – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/800, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
One year ago today I “whooped” out loud when I spotted my first of the year Green-tailed Towhee singing as he perched in top of a sagebrush. On my last couple of trips out into the field I have been listening for these big, rufous crowned sparrows because I have been expecting their return to the mountains, canyons, sagebrush steppes, and pinyon-juniper forests that I explore while looking for birds to photograph. If I didn’t know birds like I do I wouldn’t think that this species was in the sparrow family because of their large size and their colorful plumage but they are.
The photo above was the Green-tailed Towhee I found last year and I hadn’t shared it here before because I was frustrated by the out of focus sagebrush stem at the bottom of the frame and how the angle of the sun created a shadow on the towhee’s breast. Those issues may have been resolved by moving a few feet further north. I would have had more of a side view of the towhee but the shadow on the bird’s breast wouldn’t have been quite so pronounced because my angle of view would have changed, even if ever so slightly.
I know of a few places where Green-tailed Towhees have been abundant in previous years so while they are here for their breeding season this year I plan on spending plenty of time looking for them. During the early part of their breeding season the males spend a large portion of their time singing to attract mates. The rest of the time they are here in Utah they can be much harder to see and photograph. Towhees can be quite skulky.
I know that the next time I go out into the field I will be listening for the whistles and trills of Green-tailed Towhee songs and the mewing calls they make in the shrubs and bushes.
By the way, I wanted to thank you all for your kind, supportive comments on my post yesterday. I appreciate all of them and you.
One of my friends, Kathleen Roach, suggested writing a book which was kind of fun because almost immediately after I published my post yesterday I did a Google search on “how many words does any average book have?” and some of the results say between 90,000 and 100,000 words. I typically try to have my posts over 300 words each but quite often they have far more words that that. So if I multiply 1827 posts times 300 words I come up with 548,100 which would be the equivalent of about 5 1/2 to 6 books. That would have covered just the last five years. If I did that for every post I have ever done which to date is 3256, it comes out to 976,800 words. Which means I could have written ten to eleven books during the time I have been blogging!
Just an interesting tidbit. 🙂
Life is good. Stay safe.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Green-tailed Towhee photos plus facts and information about this species.
Love your work. That number of words is why there are book editors! (I worked in publishing for a long time, and always admired the ability of a good editor to keep the length down such that one could lift the resultant tome.)
Beautiful image…you’re always right on with composition…maybe youband Ron coukd write book together…
Beautiful image of the Green-tailed Towhee. Whether or not you write a book, I’m grateful for all that I learn every time I see your photos and read your blog posts. I think it’s a terrific idea for you and Ron to co-author a book. I’m ready to get a copy once it’s ready!
How beautiful they are.
And, if ever you do go down the book route, give Ron a nudge too.
You would both have a more than appreciative audience ready made.
Wonderful lighting on the photo.
I have lazuli buntings in my yard this week. They sing as beautifully as they look!
Quite the handsome lad!
Amazing that you’ve written close to a million words! Wow!