{"id":54114,"date":"2018-09-14T05:21:53","date_gmt":"2018-09-14T11:21:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=54114"},"modified":"2024-04-05T05:05:20","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T11:05:20","slug":"molting-juvenile-spotted-towhee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/09\/14\/molting-juvenile-spotted-towhee\/","title":{"rendered":"Molting Juvenile Spotted Towhee"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don’t have as many photos of Spotted Towhees as I would like in my portfolio but I am hoping to change that since I now know where I can find them in what appears to be healthy numbers and next spring when the males are singing on their territories I am going to try harder to get them out in the open.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile Spotted Towhee – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/640, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

This time of the year male and female Spotted Towhees have finished raising their broods and their young are learning how to be on their own but they do look a touch ragged as they molt into their adult plumage. Last week I had an opportunity to photograph a molting juvenile Spotted Towhee in the Wasatch Mountains and I was glad that it came out into the open so that I could photograph it.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile Spotted Towhee in molt – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t have much experience with Spotted Towhee chicks, juveniles or when they are molting into adult plumage but I believe this is a young female because where the bird shows fresh plumage some of those areas are more gray-brown than they are black, black would indicate a young male. I could be wrong though, as I said earlier I don’t have much experience with them at this age.<\/p>\n

Spotted Towhees are notorious for staying hidden as they scratch on the ground in thickets for their food so getting one out in the open is a real treat for me.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

This time of the year male and female Spotted Towhees have finished raising their broods and their young are learning how to be on their own but they do look a touch ragged as they molt into their adult plumage. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127205,"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":[27,6742,4594,3542,26,773],"tags":[3940,4067,4071,2312,2313,4069,3546,11016,4195,3545,5908,4854],"class_list":["post-54114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-little-dutch-hollow","category-morgan-county","category-spotted-towhees","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-canyon","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-molt","tag-molting","tag-mountains","tag-pipilo-maculatus","tag-prrow","tag-sparrows","tag-spotted-towhee","tag-towhee","tag-towhees"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/spotted-towhee-immature-mia-mcpherson-5472.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-e4O","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":73714,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/09\/14\/male-spotted-towhees-one-immature-and-one-adult\/","url_meta":{"origin":54114,"position":0},"title":"Male Spotted Towhees – One Immature And One Adult","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Spotted Towhees are among the most colorful members of the sparrow family and I always enjoy photographing them on those occasions when they are out in the open.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Spotted Towhee male on a smoky September morning, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/spotted-towhee-adult-male-sumac-mia-mcpherson-8375.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/spotted-towhee-adult-male-sumac-mia-mcpherson-8375.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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