{"id":70315,"date":"2020-05-30T06:35:08","date_gmt":"2020-05-30T12:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=70315"},"modified":"2025-10-26T09:40:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T14:40:13","slug":"well-hello-there-green-tailed-towhee-ive-been-expecting-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/05\/30\/well-hello-there-green-tailed-towhee-ive-been-expecting-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Well Hello There Green-tailed Towhee – I’ve Been Expecting You"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Fluffed<\/span><\/div><\/div>

Fluffed up adult male Green-tailed Towhee singing<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

I’ve been expecting to see a Green-tailed Towhee singing on or very near this lichen-encrusted fence post since I first heard one of their songs this year and yesterday one appeared.<\/p>\n

I heard the male Green-tailed Towhee before I could see him perched on the weathered post with lichens on the top so a view of him was no surprise for me. It really was quite expected.<\/p>\n

For the last four breeding seasons I have reliably seen Green-tailed Towhees at this location and part of the reason is that it is wonderful habitat for this species. There is sagebrush, shrubs, plenty of places for a towhee to dive into when feeling threatened and nice areas to nest.<\/p>\n

For this male Green-tailed Towhee there are also ample natural and man made perches to sing from the tops of to attract the females of his species. He did just that yesterday for the 51 seconds that I had him in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n

Listen to the song of a Green-tailed Towhee here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"Adult<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"Adult<\/a><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
\"Fluffed<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"Male<\/a><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
\"Sleek<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"Singing<\/a><\/div><\/div>
<\/div>
\"Side<\/a><\/div><\/div>
\"Male<\/a><\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

You can click the first image in this gallery to start a slide show and to see the images larger.<\/p>\n

In the 51 seconds that I had this dapper-looking adult male Green-tailed Towhees in my viewfinder he sang, preened a bit, fluffed up his feathers, turned his head and sang some more. I took 177 photos of the towhee before he took off and flew across the road.<\/p>\n

It was terrific to find the male Green-tailed Towhee yesterday in lovely light on a clear morning.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

My techs for these images: Nikon D500, f7.1, shutter speeds ranged between 1\/800 and 1\/1000, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light.<\/em><\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Green-tailed Towhee photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I heard the male Green-tailed Towhee before I could see him perched on the weathered post with lichens on the top so a view of him was no surprise for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":161856,"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":[4004,3940,9980,898,3905,5771,9979,4062,4069,2303,9981,855,4195,165,5908,4854,8917],"class_list":["post-70315","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-encrysted","tag-fence-post","tag-green-tailed-towhee","tag-lichen-covered","tag-lichens","tag-male","tag-mountains","tag-pipilo-chlorurus","tag-side-profile","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-spring","tag-towhee","tag-towhees","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-tailed-towhee-male-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-5981.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ii7","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":70315,"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 "Bird ID"","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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-and-spotted-towhee-young-mia-mcpherson-4203.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-and-spotted-towhee-young-mia-mcpherson-4203.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":72757,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/08\/17\/green-tailed-towhees-he-she-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":70315,"position":1},"title":"Green-tailed Towhees – He? 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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 "Birds"","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, 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