Green-tailed Towhee

I had the pleasure of attending the first Mountain Bird Festival in Ashland Oregon recently and it was great! The Wildlife Conservation Stamp Project was one of the sponsors of the festival which was hosted by the Klamath Bird Observatory.

One of the major draws to the festival was viewing the Great Gray Owl, but that is for another post altogether.

Another of the target birds of the festival was the Green-tailed Towhee (Pipilo chlorurus), a bird I had seen at Lassen Volcanic National Park, but a photo of which had eluded me. Click on photos for full sized images.

Green-tailed Towhee

Green-tailed Towhees breed in species-rich shrub communities within shrub-steppe habitats, and disturbed and open areas of montane forest, often created by forest fires1. Up in Ashland we found them on the outskirts of Howard Prairie Lake.

They are secretive birds and seem to be difficult to see out in the open, spending most of their time in dense thickets. This bird finally came out on the log above after several minutes of waiting on our part, listening to their songs coming from the brush.

Once s/he showed itself and I began taking photographs, the bird seemed to be intrigued by the sound of the camera clicking, flying up into the tree right in front of us where I took the featured image above and this one.

Green-tailed Towhee

References: 1Birds of North America Online

Written by Larry
Larry Jordan was introduced to birding after moving to northern California where he was overwhelmed by the local wildlife, forcing him to buy his first field guide just to be able to identify all the species visiting his yard. Building birdhouses and putting up feeders brought the avian fauna even closer and he was hooked. Larry wanted to share his passion for birds and conservation and hatched The Birder's Report in September of 2007. His recent focus is on bringing the Western Burrowing Owl back to life in California where he also monitors several bluebird trails. He is a BirdLife Species Champion and contributes to several other conservation efforts, being the webmaster for Wintu Audubon Society and the Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Urban Bird Foundation. He is now co-founder of a movement to create a new revenue stream for our National Wildlife Refuges with a Wildlife Conservation Pass.