{"id":106065,"date":"2022-09-10T03:31:48","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T09:31:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=106065"},"modified":"2022-09-10T03:38:14","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T09:38:14","slug":"young-green-tailed-towhee-in-a-serviceberry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/09\/10\/young-green-tailed-towhee-in-a-serviceberry\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Green-tailed Towhee In A Serviceberry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"YoungYoung Green-tailed Towhee posing in a serviceberry \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

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. I’ve been meaning to share this towhee photo for a while now and today seems like as good a day as any.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the morning I had photographed a pair of Sandhill Cranes<\/span><\/a> at this same location and I had driven back to see if the cranes were still there. I didn’t find the cranes again but when this beautiful young towhee popped up I was thrilled. Green-tailed Towhees are only here for their breeding season so I photograph them as often as I can while they are in northern Utah. I love listening to the adults sing and call<\/span><\/a> plus I enjoy watching the young towhees develop before they migrate.<\/p>\n

I don’t think this immature Green-tailed Towhee could have picked a more visually pleasing spot than this berry laden serviceberry for me to photograph it on that morning. The light was wonderful and the eye contact I had with the young bird was terrific.<\/p>\n

By now many of the Green-tailed Towhees have started their fall journeys to their overwintering grounds. A few may still be in the mountains but it might be a while before I get back up there.<\/p>\n

After days and days of record breaking temps we have finally started to cool off but smoke has come back to this area. I opened my living room window this morning and immediately smelled the acrid smoke of western wildfires. My window was closed almost as soon as I inhaled that first whiff of smoke.<\/p>\n

\"Bad<\/a>Bad air quality September 10, 2022 from PurpleAir.com<\/span><\/a>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m going to hunker down and stay inside until this smoke clears out. That smoke is really nasty.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":104980,"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":[27,2212,1731,26,773],"tags":[2666,6605,6666,3940,5889,10132,3905,4067,4071,4069,2303,13299,7289,6698,855,4195,2315,5908,4854,2667,4193],"class_list":["post-106065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-green-tailed-towhees","category-summit-county-utah","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-amelanchier-alnifolia","tag-berries","tag-berry","tag-canyon","tag-flowering-shrub","tag-fruiting-shrub","tag-green-tailed-towhee","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-mountains","tag-pipilo-chlorurus","tag-saskatoon","tag-serviceberries","tag-serviceberry","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-summer-3","tag-towhee","tag-towhees","tag-western-serviceberry","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/green-tailed-towhee-young-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-9984.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-rAJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":52355,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/05\/31\/green-tailed-towhee-perched-on-a-blooming-utah-serviceberry\/","url_meta":{"origin":106065,"position":0},"title":"Green-tailed Towhee Perched On A Blooming Utah Serviceberry","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 31, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent some time up in the canyons of the Wasatch Mountains yesterday photographing the birds I found including this handsome Green-tailed Towhee perched on a blooming Utah Serviceberry.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Green-tailed Towhee perched on a Utah Serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-tailed-towhee-flowering-tree-mia-mcpherson-3052.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-flowering-tree-mia-mcpherson-3052.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-in-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6295.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-in-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6295.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-in-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6295.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-in-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6295.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Looking beyond the viewfinder paid off for me because if I hadn't done just that I would have missed seeing and photographing this Green-tailed Towhee.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Close up Green-tailed Towhee framed by a blooming serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-tailed-towhee-up-close-mia-mcpherson-9121.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-up-close-mia-mcpherson-9121.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-tailed-towhee-up-close-mia-mcpherson-9121.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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delighted to observe, hear and photograph a beautiful Green-tailed Towhee singing from a treetop two days ago high in the Wasatch Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Treetop Green-tailed Towhee singing, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/green-tailed-towhee-singing-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-9448.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/green-tailed-towhee-singing-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-9448.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/green-tailed-towhee-singing-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-9448.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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