{"id":87698,"date":"2021-05-14T05:26:55","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T11:26:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=87698"},"modified":"2022-07-10T08:21:12","modified_gmt":"2022-07-10T14:21:12","slug":"spring-green-tailed-towhee-photo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/05\/14\/spring-green-tailed-towhee-photo\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring Green-tailed Towhee Photo"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-104034 size-full\" title=\"Adult Green-tailed Towhee high in the mountains\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-6941.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-6941.jpg\" alt=\"Adult Green-tailed Towhee high in the mountains, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-6941-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-6941-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-6941-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-6941-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-6941-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-6941-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-6941-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-6941.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Adult Green-tailed Towhee high in the mountains \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/2500, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Two days ago I was able to take my first of season Green-tailed Towhee photos in <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Morgan_County,_Utah\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Morgan County<\/span><\/a> high in the Wasatch Mountains. On recent trips to the area I had heard and seen other towhees but wasn&#8217;t able to photograph them.<\/p>\n<p>This Green-tailed Towhee caught my eye on a narrow section of the road where it was on the passenger side of my Jeep instead of the driver&#8217;s side and I wanted to get turned around before the bird flew off. About that time a pickup pulled up behind me from out of nowhere so I had to drive up the road where there was room to pull over and allow the pickup to pass me.<\/p>\n<p>I turned around hoping that the Green-tailed Towhee had stayed where it was so that I could photograph it from the good side of my Jeep. As I drove back to where I had seen the towhee I could still see it perched on the leafless serviceberry shrub. I slowly pulled over to the shoulder of the hilly road and wouldn&#8217;t you know it? A large van drove up towards my Jeep from the north. I motioned to the driver to pass me and then I was finally able to get the Green-tailed Towhee in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n<p>Side note: This Green-tailed Towhee wasn&#8217;t singing when I found it, it was mewing though.\u00a0 The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xeno-canto.org\/158368\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">mew call<\/span><\/a> of Green-tailed Towhees sounds much like the calls of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.xeno-canto.org\/282852\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Franklin&#8217;s Gulls in flight<\/span><\/a> to the untrained ear.<\/p>\n<p>I was only able to take 26 photos of the Green-tailed Towhee before it flew across the road and out of my sight. Of the images I took I liked this one the most because of the raised rusty crown and the great view of the greenish tail that gives this sparrow species their common name. I was delighted to have spent just a few seconds with this bird and that it hung around long enough for me to photograph it.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/green-tailed-towhee-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">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":"<p>Two days ago I was able to take my first of season Green-tailed Towhee photos in Morgan County high in the Wasatch Mountains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":104034,"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":[2212,4594,26,773],"tags":[4004,3940,3905,11616,4069,4104,2303,4986,855,4195,5908,4854],"class_list":["post-87698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-tailed-towhees","category-morgan-county","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-adult","tag-canyon","tag-green-tailed-towhee","tag-mew-call","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-pipilo-chlorurus","tag-raised-crown","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-towhee","tag-towhees"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-adult-spring-mia-mcpherson-6941.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-mOu","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":87698,"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 &quot;Bird ID&quot;","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":102676,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/27\/green-tailed-towhee-singing-from-a-treetop\/","url_meta":{"origin":87698,"position":1},"title":"Green-tailed Towhee Singing From A Treetop","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I was 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 &quot;Birds&quot;","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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/green-tailed-towhee-singing-tree-top-mia-mcpherson-9448.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":104869,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/08\/10\/young-green-tailed-towhee-in-the-wasatch-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":87698,"position":2},"title":"Young Green-tailed Towhee In The Wasatch Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On Sunday I was delighted when this damp young Green-tailed Towhee popped up on an old weathered stump out in the open for a few moments.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Young Green-tailed Towhee on a old weathered stump, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/green-tailed-towhee-young-stump-mia-mcpherson-1507.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/green-tailed-towhee-young-stump-mia-mcpherson-1507.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/green-tailed-towhee-young-stump-mia-mcpherson-1507.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/green-tailed-towhee-young-stump-mia-mcpherson-1507.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":104572,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/07\/28\/low-light-young-green-tailed-towhee\/","url_meta":{"origin":87698,"position":3},"title":"Low Light Young Green-tailed Towhee","author":"Mia 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 &quot;Birds&quot;","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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-immature-low-light-mia-mcpherson-7739.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-immature-low-light-mia-mcpherson-7739.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":54064,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/09\/11\/roadside-green-tailed-towhee-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":87698,"position":4},"title":"Roadside Green-tailed Towhee Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 11, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Green-tailed Towhee foraging near a road, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-tailed-towhee-road-mia-mcpherson-6083.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-road-mia-mcpherson-6083.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-tailed-towhee-road-mia-mcpherson-6083.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-tailed-towhee-road-mia-mcpherson-6083.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":58239,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/05\/30\/one-brief-glimpse-into-the-world-of-a-green-tailed-towhee\/","url_meta":{"origin":87698,"position":5},"title":"One Brief Glimpse Into The World Of A Green-tailed Towhee","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"While I know that for some people this Green-tailed Towhee image might be a \"little out there\" for their tastes and personal preferences I don't photograph birds for them, I photograph birds for me.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Green-tailed Towhee in a tree in dappled light, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-tailed-towhee-in-a-tree-mia-mcpherson-6036.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-in-a-tree-mia-mcpherson-6036.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-tailed-towhee-in-a-tree-mia-mcpherson-6036.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-tailed-towhee-in-a-tree-mia-mcpherson-6036.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}