Baby Towhee

A few days ago Tom and I heard some incessant tweeting coming from the parking lot across from our apartment. When we looked out the window, we saw a towhee running back and forth on the fence, flying down to the driveway and back up again. Eventually we were able to spot the cause for all the fuss:

I'd be freaked out too if my baby was in a driveway! This little guy looked a bit too young to fly, so we guessed it must have fallen out of a nest somewhere and hopped over to visit us. The internet informed us that in fact, birds will NOT reject their babies if you touch them. Various rehab sites recommended replacing the baby in the nest, or, if the nest could not be found, making a substitute nest and putting that in a tree.


We used a box that formerly contained a wedding gift to shelter the baby... and after multiple tries of getting the box to stay on a branch, we ducktaped the box to a tree. I have a newfound respect for birds' nest-making skills. The parents seemed a bit confused at first and continued to call, although it could have been because of the two cats who came over to investigate. Finally they must have found the little guy. And in the morning it was gone. Good luck baby towhee!

Brown Blurry Birds 2

I think there are a lot of fledglings out this time of year, floppily learning when to flee from nosy humans with cameras. This phoebe, happily, didn't seem to fear me:






Parents of fledglings are getting distracted too. I was walking in the garden when I heard a persistent cheeping coming from somewhere nearby. Turns out it was this little towhee with its mouth stuffed full of bug.

Was it bribing a fledgling to get off of Facebook and get some fresh air, out of the nest? I couldn't locate any other birds around, but given how hidden this one was, I wouldn't be surprised if I missed part of this story. Anyway it kept calling from this one spot, bug in beak, for several minutes. "Mmph! Mm mmmph!"

Here's another towhee chirping with glee as it triumphantly blocks me from getting a shot that isn't backlit:


I was also able to locate this chickadee from its calls. Sometimes you just hear them going nuts in the trees. This was either a confused baby that hadn't learned that low hanging tree branches are unsafe...

Or a parent bird trying to decoy me away from its precious babies. It worked, because I sure couldn't find the nest...

Finally, here is a slightly better picture of a goldfinch than the last one I took.

Brown Blurry Birds

Believe it or not, there ARE other birds around besides geese and their babies. They're just much harder to photograph, what with that whole "up in a tree and totally backlit" thing. Sometimes they come down to tease me for a moment, letting me snap ONE out of focus shot before they're off. I think of these shots as less artsy and more just documentation of who's present in the park.

Here's a sassy little junco showing off a little-seen view of its tum:


And here's a goldfinch:


A common but shy towhee:

And something I haven't seen a lot of at the lake: a mourning dove:

It was closely following a pigeon, in what looked like a doomed love affair.


Sorry mourning dove, I know you two are both Columbiformes and all, but maybe try someone who's at least in your own genera.