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."
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sparrow on branch
sparrow-saguaro montage
To see more sepia images, visit Sepia Scenes, a fun photo meme hosted .
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."
original image
mosaic, inverted colors
glass distortion
spin, inverted colors, paint
pinch, extrude
wave, crop, rough pastels
liquefy, crop, paint
Sunflowers with color palette of Claude Monet's Poplars on the Bents of the Epte 1891
Creek with color palette of Paul Cezanne's View of l'Estaque and the Château d'If 1885
Tree with color palette of Raphael's School of Athens 1510
Bunny with color palette of Raphael's School of Athens 1510
Canyon Rock Face with color palette of Albrect Durer's Self-Portrait 1500
Gary's Visitor with color palette of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks 1942
Track with color palette of Paul Gauguin's Woman Holding a Fruit 1893
Track with color palette of Andre Derain's Boats in Port of Collioure 1905
Cat with color palette of Pablo Picasso's The Weeping Woman 1937
Cat with color palette of Vincent Van Gogh's Cafe Terrace at Night 1888
Bench with color palette of Paul Cezanne's View of l'Estaque and the Château d'If 1885
Bench with color palette of Vincent Van Gogh's Cafe Terrace at Night 1888
It can be rather time consuming to get this effect because the subject is masked twice. Once to add blur to the background and again to change the color of selected areas.
At first I didn't think the photoshopped images looked like they were in motion. But after staring at the a blurred image for a few seconds and then back to the original, the original looks surprisingly stationary.
Purposely adding blur and grain to images is a new experience for me. As a beginning photographer, those are the types of things I usually try to avoid. These first exercises in motion blur aren't exactly dazzling, but they have opened up a new realm of possibilities for me.
I learned about this process from an article by Evad at Colourlovers.com. Click here for some stunning examples of Single Pixel Color Inspiration from Photos.
