![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/green-tailed-towhee-0006-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"green-tailed-towhee-0006-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nYesterday morning I had a very pleasant interlude with a male Green-tailed Towhee singing lustily away in an attractive setting.<\/p>\n
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1\/5000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n He’d been singing from a serviceberry bush and as I approached him in my pickup he only stopped his crooning for a few moments to check me out. He was in good light, he allowed me a close approach and I like the setting. His body was turned ever so slightly away from me but that allowed a good look at the namesake green tail of the species that isn’t always apparent.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n In this species sexes are similar but only males are known to sing and this guy was giving it all he had. While singing his face and bill were often pointed almost straight up which put his bill too close to the vertical twig behind him but in this shot I had a little more wiggle room in that regard.<\/p>\n It’s highly reassuring to see the serviceberries and other berries in the mountains coming along nicely this year. Two years ago we had a bumper berry crop which birds of many species really took advantage of but last year was a berry-bust because of a late cold spell. And berries can be a bonus for bird photographers too. I really like the way the colors of the ripening serviceberries in this shot complement the rufous crown of the towhee.<\/p>\n Bird photographers who are fans of Green-tailed Towhees had better get their licks in while they can. Very soon males of the species will stop singing on territory and resume their incredibly reclusive and secretive habits.<\/p>\n There’s good reason why Green-tailed Towhees remain one of North America’s least well-known birds.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Note: I was really tempted to clone out the leaf tip poking into the frame edge at lower right in the last photo. Maybe I should have. It’s distracting but cropping it out instead of simply removing it makes the composition too narrow vertically for my tastes and readers know how I feel about cloning natural elements out of my images. <\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/green-tailed-towhee-0001-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"green-tailed-towhee-0001-ron-dudley\\"")
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