Listen and Learn Birding: Spotted Towhee!

Given I live in northeastern Minnesota, I rarely see towhees. Just a few minutes yesterday morning before I took the video included with this post, I watched another towhee and listened to its call. Minutes later I heard the same call, and found this individual! Don’t forget that the Merlin App (my review), which is from the Cornell School of Ornithology, is also a great tool in that it will help you learn bird songs.

Anyhow, I learned one the call of the Spotted Towhee, then heard another and these images and video were the result (video link for email subscribers)



The other bird of the day for me was what most folks out here would consider common, a slate colored junco (dark-eyed junco). However, even though the “scientific powers that be” in the birding world do not consider this Oregon junco variant a different species, browse to this post to view just how different the plumage is for this western junco (same species) as my local Minnesota bird.

Slate-Colored Junco – Oregon Plumage


All the photographs in today’s post were taken during drizzle conditions yesterday. While being out in the rain might not see like much fun, if one can keep the drab sky out of photographs, colors are often very intense on wet days.

4 Calling Birds, 3 French Hens, 2 Barn Owls & a Partridge in a Pear Tree!

What’s better than one Barn Owl in a barn? Two Barn Owls in a barn! Seen and photographed yesterday afternoon while visiting my son Erik and his wife for Christmas! Better yet, for the first time in years Molly (my wife) came birding with me and she also got to see the loving couple (the owls, not Erik and Katie)!

I owe a HUGE thanks to Seattle area wildlife artist, Ed Newbold, who helped this kid from northeastern Minnesota where barn owls do not live, see one of nature’s special Christmas gifts, the Barn Owls. Browse on over to Ed’s web site, He also has a “physical” store at the entrance to Pike Place Market.

A few comments before the images … no flash photography was used inside the barn. The walls have large holes which allow natural light to invade. In addition, notice the owls are sleeping. The birds never flushed and flew. Finally, the difference in colors between images is caused by the dramatically changing lighting conditions. At times the sun broke through the clouds and entered the barn, while at other times it got quite dark inside.


And Barn Owls … the Movie! (ZZZzzzz sleeping birds … video link for email subscribers)

Seattle Sun!

Amazingly we had some sun yesterday morning in the Seattle area. This meant it was time to take birding hikes at my two favorite locations near my son’s home:

Hope everyone is surviving the runup to Christmas. Here is some natural color!

Spotted Towhee in an Apple Tree

Bufflehead

Wood Ducks (one male needed to encourage another to MOVE!)

Steller’s Jay

Great Blue Heron