{"id":102676,"date":"2022-05-27T05:14:25","date_gmt":"2022-05-27T11:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=102676"},"modified":"2022-05-27T05:37:00","modified_gmt":"2022-05-27T11:37:00","slug":"green-tailed-towhee-singing-from-a-treetop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/27\/green-tailed-towhee-singing-from-a-treetop\/","title":{"rendered":"Green-tailed Towhee Singing From A Treetop"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-102672 size-full\" title=\"Treetop Green-tailed Towhee singing\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/green-tailed-towhee-singing-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-9448.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/green-tailed-towhee-singing-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-9448.jpg\" alt=\"Treetop Green-tailed Towhee singing, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20600%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27600%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/green-tailed-towhee-singing-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-9448-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/green-tailed-towhee-singing-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-9448-250x167.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/green-tailed-towhee-singing-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-9448-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/green-tailed-towhee-singing-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-9448-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/green-tailed-towhee-singing-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-9448-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/green-tailed-towhee-singing-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-9448-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/green-tailed-towhee-singing-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-9448-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/green-tailed-towhee-singing-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-9448.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Treetop Green-tailed Towhee singing \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I was delighted to observe, hear and photograph a beautiful Green-tailed Towhee singing from a treetop two days ago high in the Wasatch Mountains.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been hearing the <a href=\"https:\/\/xeno-canto.org\/700589\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">songs<\/span><\/a> of these towhees for weeks and I have even photographed a few of them. But this was the first photo of a Green-tailed Towhee I have taken this spring where the bird is completely out in the open. I admit, I danced a bit in the seat of my Jeep because I was happy.<\/p>\n<p>When viewing this photo it is easy to see how this species got their common name. The greenish tail stood out well in the bright morning light. So did the bird&#8217;s rufous crown.<\/p>\n<p>Green-tailed Towhees are migratory which means I don&#8217;t see them during the colder months of the year. When they are gone I miss hearing and seeing them. I celebrate when they return.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier in the morning I was <em>almost<\/em> able to take a close up photo of a singing Green-tailed Towhee on top of a blooming serviceberry. When I started to focus on the bird through my viewfinder a noisy pick up rumbled by on the bumpy road at the worst time and that towhee dove for cover. It was the first vehicle to pass me for miles. I waited around for about five minutes but the towhee didn&#8217;t come back to the serviceberry to sing so I moved on because the sun was getting higher in the sky.<\/p>\n<p>I will be looking for more opportunities to photograph Green-tailed Towhees while they are here for their breeding season. They enchant me.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/green-tailed-towhee-images\/\">here<\/a><\/span> to view more of my Green-tailed Towhee photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was delighted to observe, hear and photograph a beautiful Green-tailed Towhee singing from a treetop two days ago high in the Wasatch Mountains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":102672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,2212,4594,26,773],"tags":[4004,6577,3940,6259,3905,4062,4069,4104,2303,12904,4179,855,4195,165,5908,4854,4427,12905,12906],"class_list":["post-102676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-green-tailed-towhees","category-morgan-county","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-adult","tag-branches","tag-canyon","tag-forest-edge","tag-green-tailed-towhee","tag-male","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-pipilo-chlorurus","tag-presumed-male","tag-singing-2","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-spring","tag-towhee","tag-towhees","tag-tree","tag-tree-top","tag-treetop"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/green-tailed-towhee-singing-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-9448.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-qI4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":104011,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/07\/10\/juvenile-green-tailed-and-spotted-towhee-side-by-side\/","url_meta":{"origin":102676,"position":0},"title":"Juvenile Green-tailed and Spotted Towhee Side By Side","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Until two days ago I had never gotten photos of a juvenile Green-tailed and young Spotted Towhee in the same frame so I was thrilled when I saw them fly in.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bird ID&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bird ID","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/bird-identification\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Green-tailed and Spotted Towhee comparison, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-and-spotted-towhee-young-mia-mcpherson-4203.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-and-spotted-towhee-young-mia-mcpherson-4203.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Green-tailed Towhee on a old weathered stump, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/green-tailed-towhee-young-stump-mia-mcpherson-1507.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/green-tailed-towhee-young-stump-mia-mcpherson-1507.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/green-tailed-towhee-young-stump-mia-mcpherson-1507.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/green-tailed-towhee-young-stump-mia-mcpherson-1507.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":104572,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/07\/28\/low-light-young-green-tailed-towhee\/","url_meta":{"origin":102676,"position":2},"title":"Low Light Young Green-tailed Towhee","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Three mornings ago before the sun rose high enough to light up a willow thicket a young Green-tailed Towhee perched on a branch directly in front of me.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Green-tailed Towhee in low light, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-immature-low-light-mia-mcpherson-7739.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-immature-low-light-mia-mcpherson-7739.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-immature-low-light-mia-mcpherson-7739.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-immature-low-light-mia-mcpherson-7739.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":106065,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/09\/10\/young-green-tailed-towhee-in-a-serviceberry\/","url_meta":{"origin":102676,"position":3},"title":"Young Green-tailed Towhee In A Serviceberry","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I found this young Green-tailed Towhee perched in a serviceberry high in a mountain canyon on a sunny morning on the last day of July this year.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Green-tailed Towhee posing in a serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/green-tailed-towhee-young-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-9984.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/green-tailed-towhee-young-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-9984.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/green-tailed-towhee-young-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-9984.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/green-tailed-towhee-young-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-9984.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":87698,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/05\/14\/spring-green-tailed-towhee-photo\/","url_meta":{"origin":102676,"position":4},"title":"Spring Green-tailed Towhee Photo","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Two days ago I was able to take my first of season Green-tailed Towhee photos in Morgan County high in the Wasatch Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Green-tailed Towhees&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Green-tailed Towhees","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/emberzine-sparrows-allies\/green-tailed-towhees\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Green-tailed Towhee high in the mountains, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-6941.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-6941.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-6941.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-6941.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52258,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/05\/25\/green-tailed-towhee-singing-in-a-mountain-canyon\/","url_meta":{"origin":102676,"position":5},"title":"Green-tailed Towhee Singing In A Mountain Canyon","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I had fun yesterday morning photographing a male Green-tailed Towhee singing in a mountain canyon, this was a bird I heard before I spotted him perched on a flowering branch.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Green-tailed Towhee singing on a flowering branch, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-tailed-towhee-mia-mcpherson-2188.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-tailed-towhee-mia-mcpherson-2188.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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