{"id":102203,"date":"2022-05-07T05:25:36","date_gmt":"2022-05-07T11:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=102203"},"modified":"2022-05-07T05:31:02","modified_gmt":"2022-05-07T11:31:02","slug":"male-spotted-towhee-in-morgan-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/07\/male-spotted-towhee-in-morgan-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Spotted Towhee In Morgan County"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MaleMale Spotted Towhee in spring \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I had a few moments to photograph a singing male Spotted Towhee two days ago in Morgan County high in the Wasatch Mountains. I do wish that that colorful male towhee had been closer to the road and larger in the frame. It was delightful to hear him singing<\/span><\/a> as he perched on top of a tree.<\/p>\n

Spotted Towhees and Eastern Towhees used to be lumped together and were called Rufous-sided Towhees. Spotted Towhees are large, colorful members of the sparrow family and are found throughout western North America and they have spots on their wings and backs that Eastern Towhees lack.<\/p>\n

I usually hear Spotted Towhees before I spot them and I hear them more often than I see them too. They are known for being skulky but during the spring the males often sing from the tops of tree and shrubs. In my experiences I have had my best opportunities to photograph these towhees during spring.<\/p>\n

I’ve found Spotted Towhees to be skittish and I can’t tell you how many times I have missed taking wonderful photos of them simply because I couldn’t get to them before they dove from their perch to hide on the ground.<\/p>\n

As with all the birds that I find it can be extremely frustrating to spot them out in the open in beautiful light in a lovely setting and then not get to them soon enough to photograph them at all.<\/p>\n

This male Spotted Towhee never gave me a clear view of his head but I liked the setting, his red eye and the fluffy catkins in the image. Listening to his song brought me much appreciated joy.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to view more of my Spotted Towhee photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had a few moments to photograph a singing male Spotted Towhee two days ago in Morgan County high in the Wasatch Mountains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":102185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,4594,3542,26,773],"tags":[4004,6577,3940,6521,5370,4062,4069,4104,3546,855,4195,3545,165,5908,4854,6107],"class_list":["post-102203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-morgan-county","category-spotted-towhees","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-adult","tag-branches","tag-canyon","tag-catkins","tag-forest","tag-male","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-pipilo-maculatus","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-spotted-towhee","tag-spring","tag-towhee","tag-towhees","tag-willow"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t