![Econ River WA Econ River WA](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sgWcHWTdT73ljevw_e3ZAmSNqJ1NkJKGUutKoMZRwXdLzzLm0VLcZHBtwWJv-nSDYJHfmfhik8CF79qWXqAfG3GaR1Y7FA6L-m7C7kPhR52QhC70r3r9759lI-ZyfYYfocmvnLkuEKMceED0VZWYsoRAlAoLrh=s0-d) |
Eastern Towhee
First Year? Female, October 2013 |
Yesterday I had a chance to visit Econ River WA for about an hour. As usual, Eastern Towhees were calling all over the park. But I also had some good up-close looks at a male and a female associating with each other. The male was a typical Florida "white-eyed" bird (the eyes actually look straw-yellow to me), but the female had eyes so dark that they seemed to blend into the bird's head. I thought this might be migrant--the northern "red-eyed" sub-species. I took a few shots of the bird and then asked my non-colorblind family members to tell me the eye-color. Apparently, the eyes are neither yellow nor red, but brown. After inquiring about this I learned that younger birds have darker eyes, so this female may well be a first-year "white-eyed" bird. I went back and checked some of my photos of a juvenile that I took back in June of 2012; sure enough, the eyes are dark.
![Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_ucj0HkXITKVWv0-LaN4K__d0pDSY8Xx99qU4Zv7tI8VWRLEg0Kf7oQmm_raPWXNKmC9bONA5DtfpJLg1C-fULLa3AGdrFJD7alnudJkf9SBbeBtMhrHwQHFqE-lVeoTQrpGyol6cktt4Z8Fil8Kz9YEKQkgiRVW7OZy0M=s0-d) |
Eastern Towhee
Juvenile, June 2012 |
Here are a few photographs of adult Eastern Towhees for comparison. I suppose I prefer the straw-yellow eyes because they stand out so much easier against that dark head--much easier for photographs.
![Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sU_UuleDC9DP-u0biPknyHYdDGI-yo2A06Ubt3T5OCFkAseSkEX6_2H7uZPlOELqevUwrGZ2S2SI1_ZwWsku9ASA-nqNsq0sd5RgfLBqe8pFJLSAxik46j8ljkJS4nMgClv88Zyt100otmyS1ssvN-mkxl_ooebqOsjbU=s0-d) |
Eastern Towhee
Adult Male, December 2012 |
![Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uC3vPEsurtJZAIUpQ4bV5odk8ejt8JB7pIAszu78gZQazeuAAUnwhhYMXcL6pYjF30-cwFo-Fz-PGDH61MlQk3uW7cOg6ttebtsdg1x79w7rv8n2jloTTE8Uz2SwTSIDknQTmOlzjwFOj1z_wfy8WOgPFjN3_I8kmzMQ=s0-d) |
Eastern Towhee
Adult Male, July 2012 |
![Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_v_tDsJT8B_J9zY8-cUHC2Ta40tCM80PLaFbCIOlzMi-6_FYtbrJb1MPEjoi7Ay2FVAhb_z7U6FlNFagv3i8lFBc7OIxehuEH07KjoRI-KBynLxbfl4amPgYbiLaMQakWdOnmej33L8EFUVYks69sy5ijnTKkpKIbSxR1U=s0-d) |
Eastern Towhee
Adult Female, June 2012 |
Comments
Post a Comment
Feel free to comment to leave feedback.