Snowy Spotted Towhee Portrait

Snowy Spotted Towhee portrait – Nikon D500, f6.3, 1/1000, ISO 1000, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

There was about 2 1/2 inches of white stuff on the ground yesterday morning which allowed me to take this snowy Spotted Towhee portrait close to home.

The light was dreadful which meant that I had to crank my ISO up to have sufficient shutter speed. My Nikon D500 handles higher ISO’s like a champ so I wasn’t worried about creating noise in my images. My main concern was having a fast enough enough shutter speed while photographing these colorful members of the sparrow family.

There were two male Spotted Towhees in the area and after an extremely brief scuffle this male landed on the snow close enough to me that I opted to take portraits of him. Even though I had low light conditions my camera was able to capture light in the towhee’s red eye. The fine details in the dark feathers of his head were also clearly visible. I appreciated being able to take portraits of this species despite the low light conditions.

In the past I have struggled to have clear views of Spotted Towhees because they are by nature quite skulky so having both males out in the open was delightful. I would have loved to have heard the male towhees call but they were both silent.

I may have more opportunities to photograph these Spotted Towhees in snowy conditions if the weather forecasters are correct. Today and the next two days have snow in the forecast. I am crossing my fingers and hoping that we get the snow and that I’ll be able to have more Spotted Towhees in my viewfinder soon.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to view more of my Spotted Towhee photos plus facts and information about this species.