{"id":79770,"date":"2021-02-24T06:04:35","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T13:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=79770"},"modified":"2024-04-05T05:22:13","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T11:22:13","slug":"male-spotted-towhee-in-low-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/02\/24\/male-spotted-towhee-in-low-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Spotted Towhee In Low Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WinterWinter male Spotted Towhee perched in a tree \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/800, ISO 1000, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Ten days ago when I took this male Spotted Towhee image close to home I had tough, low light conditions to photograph him in. The towhee spent time on the ground foraging and perching on branches in the nearby trees. I took far more blurry photos of him than I wish I had.\u00a0 There were a few sharp images in the series that I took of this striking black, white, and rufous bird as he watched over the smaller birds below him from his perch in the tree.<\/p>\n

There were two male Spotted Towhees foraging among the White-crowned Sparrows<\/span><\/a> and Dark-eyed Juncos<\/span><\/a> that afternoon. I shared a portrait of the other male towhee<\/span><\/a> the day after I photographed them all.<\/p>\n

I have gone back to the area where I saw and photographed the male towhees and the other birds several times hoping to photograph them all in better light conditions. People on foot and vehicular traffic have caused the birds to be far more skittish than they were on that dreary, low light, winter afternoon. In other words, I have been skunked. The birds simply aren’t coming down to the ground to forage when I have had good light in that spot.<\/p>\n

I will keep trying. I am persistent. Or stubborn. Or both.<\/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":"

Ten days ago when I took this male Spotted Towhee image close to home I had tough, low light conditions to photograph him in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127220,"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":[27,709,3542,26],"tags":[4004,6577,156,4062,4104,3546,14870,4050,4328,855,4195,3545,5908,4854,4427,8018,373],"class_list":["post-79770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-spotted-towhees","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-branches","tag-low-light-2","tag-male","tag-perched","tag-pipilo-maculatus","tag-river-edge","tag-snow","tag-snowy","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-spotted-towhee","tag-towhee","tag-towhees","tag-tree","tag-urban","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/spotted-towhee-adult-male-winter-tree-mia-mcpherson-2771.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-kKC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":102203,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/07\/male-spotted-towhee-in-morgan-county\/","url_meta":{"origin":79770,"position":0},"title":"Male Spotted Towhee In Morgan County","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I had a few moments to photograph a singing male Spotted Towhee two days ago in Morgan County high in the Wasatch Mountains.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Spotted Towhee in spring, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/spotted-towhee-male-willow-mia-mcpherson-0671.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/spotted-towhee-male-willow-mia-mcpherson-0671.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/spotted-towhee-male-willow-mia-mcpherson-0671.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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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":107056,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/10\/10\/male-spotted-towhee-urban-birds\/","url_meta":{"origin":79770,"position":2},"title":"Male Spotted Towhee – Urban Birds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I'm sharing a photo of a male Spotted Towhee that I captured yesterday while walking along the Jordan River in Salt Lake County early in the morning.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Spotted Towhee in a hawthorn, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/spotted-towhee-jordan-river-trail-mia-mcpherson-9744.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/spotted-towhee-jordan-river-trail-mia-mcpherson-9744.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/spotted-towhee-jordan-river-trail-mia-mcpherson-9744.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/spotted-towhee-male-adult-mia-mcpherson-3988.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/spotted-towhee-male-adult-mia-mcpherson-3988.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/spotted-towhee-male-adult-mia-mcpherson-3988.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/spotted-towhee-male-adult-mia-mcpherson-3988.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":73714,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/09\/14\/male-spotted-towhees-one-immature-and-one-adult\/","url_meta":{"origin":79770,"position":4},"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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/spotted-towhee-adult-male-sumac-mia-mcpherson-8375.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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