Snowy Towhee

Day 61: For three seasons, I have "Screwy Towhees," the two words rhyming. In winter, however, a new species sometimes emerges: the "Snowy Towhee," distinguished by a long O in the pronunciation of the latter word. Webster's Third New International acknowledges another breed with strongest emphasis on the last "-ee," i.e., "tuh-WEE." And wowie! There is also a fourth pronunciation, "TAU-ee," although I understand that subspecies is only found in Greece. The Snowy Towhee is a more active bird than the Screwy Towhee, its feet quite sensitive to temperatures of branch and soil and therefore more anxious to move from one perch to another. It is also more birb-like in characteristics: rounder, fluffier, sillier. It expresses indignity more frequently than the Screwy Towhee, taking affront at almost every white flake which falls past its widened red eye. In number, it is as common as the Screwy Towhee here in the Pacific Northwest, although its population is packed into the shorter time span covering the months of winter. It therefore may appear more numerous when in fact, its census is simply more concentrated. Like its three-season counterpart, it feeds largely on the ground and prefers black-oil sunflower seed, and will reward observers with its scrabbling, scraping antics as it searches for food.