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Posts Tagged ‘Pipilo erythrophthalmus’

Eastern Towhee

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on January 31, 2024| 14 Comments »

Usually when I hear some rustling in the leaves and see a flash of rust-colored feathers, I assume that it is an American Robin. I was delighted last Friday at Huntley Meadows Park to be wrong in my assumption. When I zoomed in on the bird that had attracted my attention, I realized that it was an Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus), a species that I see a lot less frequently than the American Robin,

This colorful little bird proved to be quite skittish and I managed to capture only a few shots of it before it flew deeper into the underbrush. Fortunately I was able to capture enough details that you can see the bird’s beautiful markings and coloration.

Eastern Towhee

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Towhee in December

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on December 16, 2020| 16 Comments »

I am often fooled by Eastern Towhees (Pipilo erythrophthalmus). Whenever I see a flash of rusty brown feathers on a dark bird, I assume that it is an American Robin. If a towhee stays still long enough, it is easy to tell that it is not a robin—the color pattern and the bill shape are completely different from those of a robin. The problem is that towhees are often in constant motion, foraging about in the undergrowth, so it is hard to get a good look at one.

I was fortunate last week when an Eastern Towhee popped out of the brush at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and perched for a moment on the branch of a small tree, allowing me to capture a shot of this very colorful sparrow.

Eastern Towhee

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Eastern Towhee in January 2020

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on January 5, 2020| 12 Comments »

This past Thursday I was thrilled to photograph a handsome male Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.  Most of the times when I see towhees, they are poking about in the leaves, half hidden by the shadows, so it was wonderful to get a few unobstructed shots of one.

As I was doing a little research on this bird, I came across this wonderful description of the species on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website:

“A strikingly marked, oversized sparrow of the East, feathered in bold black and warm reddish-browns – if you can get a clear look at it. Eastern Towhees are birds of the undergrowth, where their rummaging makes far more noise than you would expect for their size. Their chewink calls let you know how common they are, but many of your sightings end up mere glimpses through tangles of little stems.”

Eastern Towhee

Eastern Towhee

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Eastern Towhee in January

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on January 3, 2019| 6 Comments »

During the winter months you sometimes have to search a little harder to find birds, but they are definitely still with us. When I caught a glimpse of this bird’s rust-colored feathers earlier this week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I assumed it was an American Robin.

When I zoomed in, however, I was thrilled to see like that the bird was an Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus). Towhees share many of the same colors with the robins, but they are arranged in a completely different way. I think that towhees are supposed to be relatively common, although I personally do not see them very often.

I love to play with words and “towhee” for some reason is fun to say out loud. Try it yourself—it is virtually guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Eastern Towhee

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Eastern Towhee

Posted in Autumn, Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on October 18, 2017| 2 Comments »

When I spotted this bird on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, it was facing away from me and I couldn’t immediately identify it. It had fluffed up its feathers and appeared to be basking in the sunlight.

When it finally turned its head slightly, I caught a glimpse of its red eyes and realized that it was probably an Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus). All of the other times that I have seen towhees in the past, they have been foraging in the cluttered undergrowth, so it was a real treat to see one more or less in the open. As a bonus, the light coming from the left helped to illuminate some of the details of the bird’s beautiful feathers and the bird’s pose is quite different from that of a typical perched bird .

Eastern Towhee

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Not a robin

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 10, 2014| 6 Comments »

At first I thought that the black and orange birds rooting about in the fallen leaves were American Robins (Turdus migratorius), but a closer look through the undergrowth revealed that there was white on their breasts and that their eyes were red.

It turns out that they are Eastern Towhees (Pipilo erythrophthalmus), a strikingly marked oversized sparrow. It was quite a challenge to get somewhat unobstructed shots of these birds. They seemed to be in constant motion, hopping about and rummaging through the leaves—I had to chase them around for quite some time to get these modest shots.

towhee2_blogtowhee1_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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