california towhee

A California Towhee forages in a grassy creek bed.

Had to search through my whole bird book to re-identify this skulker. Looked at all smallish birds with red eyes. Finally, towards the end of the book, I found the suspect: California Towhee. No idea why he was being so shy.

Next up was, appropriately enough, a California Towhee. A classic "little brown job" that lives a fairly anonymous life in the shadows as a ground feeder under shrubs. Not anywhere near as flashy as his cousin the Spotted Towhee, but quite prettily touched with red here and there when...

Thumbing through the series of photos of this little guy, it resembled a chocolate Labrador after fully dunking himself in a pool, lake, etc. Here he is, still sopping wet, and matter-of-factly telling me, "Hmpf, I see you there." Their personalities certainly make up for their lack of...

Not the most colorful of birds, to put it mildly. Still, always good to see one, if only as proof that I'm actually in California ;)

being very cooperative and perching at eye level. They usually forage down in the duff.

Finally, winter in California...

Possibly the plainest and most common bird in California, and here it's managed to even hide its one patch of color - the red bit under its rump.

This is actually a very large sparrow. If you are familiar with the Spotted towhee, then this bird is larger than it. Unlike the Spotted Towhee, however, this bird is very visible, and loves to feed with the other yard-birds. They are not kind to each other, and often break out in fairly rough...

This younger towhee sat on the fence and seemed interested in the click of my camera.

This younger towhee sat on the fence and seemed interested in the click of my camera.

We were sitting on our deck enjoying the birds when this one decided to come close. Unlike most birds, these towhees don't seem to be afraid of people.

I was out on the deck watching my hummingbirds when this little one landed a few feet away from me. I couldn't resist this sweet pose with the lake in the background looking so blue.

Not as colorful as some of our other birds but they are friendly and allow us to walk up close.

Like my hummingbirds, this bird is quite social and unafraid of humans or animals as we walk past them.