Green-tailed Towhees are large long-tailed sparrows. Spending most of their time under the cover of dense shrubbery, they are more often heard than seen. They make strange catlike mews and noisily thrash leaf litter around looking for food.
Towhees forage on the ground with a quick backward two-footed hop known as "double scratching." They are also said to run like rodents. I think this one looks more like a roadrunner than a mouse.
The scientific name, Pipilo chlorurus, means "colorful chirper." Hiding under bushes, they look drab grey or brown. But their colors become more obvious when they venture out into the sunlight. Field marks are: rufous cap, white throat, black mustache, grey chest and olive-green upperparts.
The books don't mention blue, but I noticed some.
This towhee didn't have a rusty colored cap.
Apparently, their head feathers can move from flat to puffed.
Sometimes they stop their fast foraging to stretch their necks up for a moment.
I don't understand all of their quirky behaviors, but they are fun to watch.
The most towhees I've seen at one time is four. Did you know that the collective name for a group of towhees is a "tangle" or a "teapot?" The group name for sparrows is "host," "quarrel" or "ubiquity."
You have read this article backyard /
birds /
color palettes /
colors /
nature /
photoshop
with the title September 2009. You can bookmark this page URL http://mariabelgien.blogspot.com/2009/09/colorful-chirpers.html. Thanks!
"A curved line for beauty, a straight line for duty." ~Violet Linton
"The essence of drawing is the line exploring space." ~Andy Goldsworthy
"Our mind is capable of passing beyond the dividing line we have drawn for it. Beyond the pairs of opposites of which the world consists, other, new insights begin.” ~Hermann Hesse
