Spotted Towhee

In my experience these guys are kind of shy and hard to shoot and most often scratching around in the ground litter. You did well to get this shot.

Nice work Sandy, the detail in the black and the white is excellent.

Ray

Very nice Sandy. Looks like you had some soft light. This species is also a backyard nemisis bird for me, but I rarely seemed to be able to induce them off the ground. I finally placed a 1/4 sheet of plywood on a wheelbarrow, piled soil on the plywood to lens level and placed a perch over the baited soil. They quickly adapted to feeding on the elevated ground. I was able to get ground level images and occasionally a bird perched briefly on the overhanging perch. Setup works well for sparrows, Ca towhee, quail, doves, juncos, and other ground feeders. The wheelbarrow allows me to move the setup around to achive best light.

Good job, Sandy. Ours are real skulkers in the brush. Superb image quality for hand held at that shutter speed.

Great colors and details Sandy, these birds always seem to stay in the low-lying vegetation.
I think I saw it only a handful of times all year..
Nicely done, Happy Thanksgiving