Winter Residents

Day 119: Whether you want to call him a Rufous-Sided Towhee or a Spotted Towhee, Pipilo maculatus won't mind as long as you see to having his breakfast available on wet snowy mornings. Primarily a ground forager, Mr. Towhee will scratch seed out of a feeder with a quick back-hop kickstep and then perform the same dance to raise it from where it has fallen. His tail is almost constantly in motion, flicking and twitching to reveal white corners on the outer feathers. His most striking feature is his bright red eye which only colors up from dark brown at adulthood.

Here in my personal bird "sanctuary," Towhees are more numerous in wintertime, feeding alongside Dark-Eyed Juncoes. They love to hide in the contorted filbert, safe from larger predatorial birds in the tangle of its branches.