Linda and I have just arrived at the Purina Farms Event Arena in Gray Summit, MO, which means we are officially surrounded by Poodles. Small ones, medium ones, and even ones that stand three times the height of ours. Pick a standard breed color and it will not take long before a matching Prima-Donna will prance by, nose in air and sparkles on the collar. Yep, we are at the AKC Poodle Nationals or Poodle Specialty for short. The boys will be competing tomorrow in the agility ring and then give way to the confirmation events scheduled for later in the week. That would be rows and rows of grooming tables covering an entire exhibit hall – imagine a Build-A-Bear factory had exploded. Once that is done, Ruger will toe the line for FastCAT, which is the canine equivalent of the 100 yard dash (hoping to improve on his 19.5mph PR). Time for the pups to earn their keep ha. I also have a three part Halloween themed post to get through on the mothership that is about 7 months overdue (I swear I retired..where does the time go!!). While we get things taken care of here, Brad is going to take the Intrigued reins and bring you wings I’ve never seen!
Take it away Brad…
Ever run across a very unassuming bird, just sitting and minding its own business? That’s what happened for me on this bird.
I was wandering along the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve (UNBNP) trying to find Jan. She was photographing the California Thrasher (link here). I thought I saw her on a parallel path so I tried to find my way over to her.
On the way, there was a smallish tree/bush with a brown lump in it. The chances were very high that it was a bird I’d never seen or photographed before, so I snuck up on it. I chuckled to myself (CTM). I’m over 6 feet tall, carrying a very large piece of glass on a long stick. I think it’s hard for me to sneak up on anything on pebbly gravel paths.
As I got closer, it seemed to be alerting someone. John Wayne Airport was still pumping airplanes into the air at an astonishing rate drowning out the bird’s call. I sure am glad my house isn’t within hearing distance of an airport. The wildlife in the preserve must be accustomed to the noise to the point they can’t hear it any more. Sort of “ear blind,” if you will.
Upon further inspection (on the big screen at home) I noticed the tiny orange eye ring. I’m pretty sure there was no way I would have seen this at the time, and it is a great indicator if you can see it.
Hit the jump to reveal the identity.
This is a California Towhee (Melozone crissalis).
The brown-on-brown coloring is nearly perfect camouflage when sitting in a brown tree. Leaves on the tree would have helped hide it a bit more. The Towhee is a bit larger than a typical sparrow, but not as large as an American Robin. If you are lucky, they will flash a rusty colored patch under their tail. Males look pretty much the same as females.
The range for the California Towhee is along the coast from Northern California all the way to the tip of Baja California. I happened to see it roughly in the middle of its north-south range. They don’t seem to venture very far inland either. The Towhee feeds mostly on seeds, supplementing with grasshoppers or beetles during the breeding season. They have been known to eat various berries, acorns, peas, and poison oak berries.
If you are lucky enough to find one in the wild, please leave its nest alone, but not necessarily for the reasons you think. Poison Oak is a hazard of outdoor recreation in California. It is also a primary building material for the Towhee. Their nests are constructed from this irritating plant. Towhee also feast on Poison Oak’s pale white berries.
The California Towhee will build a nest only a few feet off the ground in the fork of a shrub or small tree. The female builds a very complicated and comfortable nest. She weaves an outer shell from grass, twigs and unfortunately sometimes human trash, all materials they can easily find in the chaparral lining the Pacific coast. The female then lines the inside with downy seeds, strips of bark or animal hair. Did I mention the male watches the entire process, usually without lifting a feather? He’s the bird equivalent of a coach potato. A pair will raise 2-5 eggs up to three times per year, but I’m guessing Mom does most of the work.
After a few dozen (OK, probably a hundred) shutter clicks, I think I was finally getting on its nerves. I had been getting casual glances in my general direction.
The look it gave me reminded me of “the look” Jan and I would give Allyson when she was approaching the edge of acceptable behavior as a youngster. Truthfully, we didn’t have to pull out this look very often, and it was often met with one in return. Hard to stay stern when her pigtails were still bouncing around. Though we did catch her, from time to time, giving other kids “the look” when they exceeded her parameters for acceptable behavior.
The Towhee had enough of stardom. Off it flew.
Thank you for reading. If you want to see more California Towhee photos, please visit here.
Credits
Thanks again to Jan for proofreading and editing. Thanks to Jan for some of the photos in this article.
Life Intrigued 