![\"Cruddy](\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/spotted-towhee-juvenile-partial-view-mia-mcpherson-0707.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
There are times I take cruddy photos on purpose when I know that my view of the entire bird is obstructed and that I might only have a partial view of the bird. Or when I know the light sucks and that I will only get poor quality images.<\/p>\n
I did that once in Florida at Fort De Soto and by taking those images I documented the first White-tailed Kite seen in Pinellas County in nearly one hundred years.<\/p>\n
But I don’t do it just for rarities I also take documentary images of birds that are common to my area. I do it to know my birds. I do it so I can identify birds with just a few of their features because I don’t always see birds out in the open.<\/p>\n
Have a look at the the photo above and try to figure out the identification of the bird. I took this image earlier this week high in Summit County in a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains<\/span><\/a>. The area is primarily riparian with willow thickets.<\/p>\n I noted the dark tail, the white spotted coverts, and the buffy brown head through my viewfinder and with just this view I could identify what species this juvenile bird belongs to. That was all I needed to see.<\/p>\n Not long after I spotted the first bird I saw another young bird nearly hidden in the same willows. This was about the clearest view that I got of this bird with my eyes and through the viewfinder. The shape of its bill plus the greenish tint on the tail and primary feathers were all I needed to identify the species of this immature feathered delight.<\/p>\n I take photos like these so I can study them when I get home and if I wasn’t able to identify the bird in the field I have a puzzle to solve. Sometimes the photos only show an eye, foot, bill, back of the head, the belly, a covert, or even just the tip of the tail and as I test myself I learn.<\/p>\n Because everyday in the field is my “classroom” as a student of nature I knew the identification of these two before I saw them through my viewfinder.<\/p>\n Did you figure out the identifications of these two birds?<\/p>\n The first is an immature Spotted Towhee<\/span><\/a> and the second is an immature Green-tailed Towhee<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n Life is<\/em> good. It is even better this morning because it has been raining softly since I woke. We need this rain.<\/p>\n Mia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are times I take cruddy photos on purpose when I know that my view of the entire bird is obstructed and that I might only have a partial view of the bird.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92749,"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":[163,27,2212,3542,1731,26,773],"tags":[215,3940,3905,5013,4067,4071,4069,12053,2303,3546,855,4195,3545,2315,5908,4854,4193],"class_list":["post-92751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bird-identification","category-avian","category-green-tailed-towhees","category-spotted-towhees","category-summit-county-utah","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-bird-id","tag-canyon","tag-green-tailed-towhee","tag-identification","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-mountains","tag-partial-view","tag-pipilo-chlorurus","tag-pipilo-maculatus","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-spotted-towhee","tag-summer-3","tag-towhee","tag-towhees","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/spotted-towhee-juvenile-partial-view-mia-mcpherson-0707.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-o7Z","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":92751,"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, 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peeking out of sage, Uinta Mountains, Uinta National Forest, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/green-tailed-towhee-adult-in-sage-mia-mcpherson-6465.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/green-tailed-towhee-adult-in-sage-mia-mcpherson-6465.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/green-tailed-towhee-adult-in-sage-mia-mcpherson-6465.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/green-tailed-towhee-adult-in-sage-mia-mcpherson-6465.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":92751,"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 "Birds"","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":102676,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/27\/green-tailed-towhee-singing-from-a-treetop\/","url_meta":{"origin":92751,"position":3},"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 "Birds"","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, 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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 "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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<\/p>\n