February Towhee

I think I have now missed the Monochrome Madness Challenge for 3 weeks in a row. When the weather is grey at this time of year I tend to get brain fog as well… Or maybe it’s a subliminal thing…MMC has no color and I’m a color junkie, even more so when mid-winter rolls around – then I’m in constant need of a color fix.

So here’s a small spot of color to brighten the day, a male rufous-sided Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus). Towhees usually eat seeds, nuts and berries from the ground, but they will also eat insects if they find them while foraging. They noisily hop and scratch, pulling away leaves on the ground to find food under bushes and shrubs, and you can often hear them rather than see them because they make a lot of noise while foraging, yet they’re extremely shy and skittish. I was happy to capture this one out in the open, usually I have to contend with twigs and branches…