{"id":90856,"date":"2021-06-25T05:25:44","date_gmt":"2021-06-25T11:25:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=90856"},"modified":"2022-07-10T08:05:25","modified_gmt":"2022-07-10T14:05:25","slug":"green-tailed-towhee-close-up-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/06\/25\/green-tailed-towhee-close-up-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Green-tailed Towhee Close Up Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

While photographing nesting House Wrens<\/span><\/a> three days ago I was also able to photograph an adult Green-tailed Towhee up close in a serviceberry shrub.<\/p>\n

\"Green-tailedGreen-tailed Towhee in a serviceberry close up \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The first time I spotted the Green-tailed Towhee the sun hadn’t risen enough over the Wasatch Mountains<\/span><\/a> for the serviceberry to be lit up. The second time it popped into view though the serviceberry and the towhee were lit beautifully. With my 1.4x teleconverter on I wasn’t able to get the towhee’s full body into my viewfinder so I opted to take close up photos.<\/p>\n

One of the nesting House Wrens chased the Green-tailed towhee off of this perch not long after this image was taken. Even though the wrens are smaller than the Green-tailed Towhee they are feisty when it comes to defending their nest and the area surrounding it.<\/p>\n

\"Green-tailedGreen-tailed Towhee perched on a rusty metal pipe \u2013 Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

About three minutes after the House Wren chased off the Green-tailed Towhee the towhee made another appearance. This time it perched on the metal pipe to the south of where the nest of the wrens is located. The towhee was still close enough to where I sat inside of a mobile blind that again I opted to take close up photos. The tail of the towhee was behind the metal pipe anyway. Another vehicle pulled up behind me and it was about that time that the towhee took off from the metal pipe, flew across the road and out of my sight.<\/p>\n

I haven’t had the best of luck photographing Green-tailed Towhees this year for various reasons. Some of those reasons are the towhees being too far away, the birds being buried in the foliage, or simply not getting to them soon enough. Even half of a second can make the difference between getting the shot or not getting it at all.<\/p>\n

Hopefully I’ll have better luck with them soon.<\/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":"

While photographing nesting House Wrens three days ago I was also able to photograph an adult Green-tailed Towhee up close in a serviceberry shrub.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":104029,"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":[27,2212,1731,26,773],"tags":[4004,6523,3940,4142,3905,11914,4069,2303,5668,6698,855,4195,2315,5908,4854,6522],"class_list":["post-90856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-green-tailed-towhees","category-summit-county-utah","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-adult","tag-amelanchier-utahensis","tag-canyon","tag-close-up","tag-green-tailed-towhee","tag-metal-pipe","tag-mountains","tag-pipilo-chlorurus","tag-rusty","tag-serviceberry","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-summer-3","tag-towhee","tag-towhees","tag-utah-serviceberry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/green-tailed-towhee-in-serviceberry-mia-mcpherson-6295.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-nDq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":58393,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/06\/06\/green-tailed-towhee-close-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":90856,"position":0},"title":"Green-tailed Towhee Close Up","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 6, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Looking beyond the viewfinder paid off for me because if I hadn't done just that I would have missed seeing and photographing this Green-tailed Towhee.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Close up Green-tailed Towhee framed by a blooming serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-tailed-towhee-up-close-mia-mcpherson-9121.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-up-close-mia-mcpherson-9121.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Green-tailed Towhee perched on a Utah Serviceberry, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-tailed-towhee-flowering-tree-mia-mcpherson-3052.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-flowering-tree-mia-mcpherson-3052.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-tailed-towhee-flowering-tree-mia-mcpherson-3052.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-tailed-towhee-flowering-tree-mia-mcpherson-3052.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Canyon","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week while heading up the Skyline Drive of Bountiful Canyon this Green-tailed Towhee was singing on top of a shrub and I was surprised when it hung around for about 2 minutes","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Green-tailed Towhee high up on Bountiful Canyon, Wasatch Mountains, Wasatch National Forest, Skyline Drive, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/green-tailed-towhee-mia-mcpherson-5784.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-mia-mcpherson-5784.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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She? It?","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 17, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"This is probably far more information on \"He? She? 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