{"id":54064,"date":"2018-09-11T05:00:27","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T11:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=54064"},"modified":"2025-10-26T06:40:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T11:40:18","slug":"roadside-green-tailed-towhee-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/09\/11\/roadside-green-tailed-towhee-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Roadside Green-tailed Towhee Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

I haven’t heard Green-tailed Towhees singing in quite a while now because the males aren’t singing on their breeding territories but occasionally I still hear them calling.<\/p>\n

Soon they will be winging their way south to spend the winter in southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico.<\/p>\n

I know I will miss them when they are gone.<\/p>\n

\"Green-tailedGreen-tailed Towhee next to a gravel road – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 1250, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Two days ago I was able to photograph a Green-tailed Towhee foraging next to a gravel road up in a Wasatch Mountain Canyon.<\/p>\n

Getting these birds out in the open can be a challenge so I was excited that this towhee was in the clear.<\/p>\n

When I look at this photo closely the towhee appears to have grit, not a seed, in its bill. Some seed eating birds do consume grit to aid in digestion but I can’t be positive about what was in its bill even when I blew the image up.<\/p>\n

I should mention I wouldn’t normally have been at this high of an ISO but I had bumped it up earlier to get more shutter speed when I was photographing a juvenile Osprey and had forgotten to bump it back down.<\/p>\n

It didn’t hurt my image quality to have the ISO that high though.<\/p>\n

\"Green-tailedGreen-tailed Towhee foraging near a road – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 1250, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This Green-tailed Towhee<\/span><\/a> foraged along the gravel road long enough for me to take 51 photos of it before it disappeared into the grasses at the side of the road.<\/p>\n

Some folks might not like the setting, it doesn’t bother me at all.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

Two days ago I was able to photograph a Green-tailed Towhee foraging next to a gravel road up in a Wasatch Mountain Canyon, getting these birds out in the open can be a challenge so I was excited that this towhee was in the clear. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":161815,"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":[27,2212,4594,26,773],"tags":[4004,3940,4136,6790,5292,3905,5476,4069,2303,2326,855,4195,5908,4854],"class_list":["post-54064","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-canyon","tag-foraging","tag-gravel","tag-gravel-road","tag-green-tailed-towhee","tag-grit","tag-mountains","tag-pipilo-chlorurus","tag-road","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-towhee","tag-towhees"],"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