Spotted Towhee

 

Spotted Towhee, El Polin Spring

I've been on the lookout for a spotted towhee in the city ever since I recently checked iNaturalist and learned they're here. I heard it chirring in the brush long before I was able to lay eyes on it, and my first glimpse was too fleeting to capture with the camera. I was glad to finally get a couple of chances before it disappeared into the brush once again.

It was interesting to see what the construction crews have been working on over there at El Polin Spring. The path has been made wide and flat, and even though it's still dirt, it looks like paving might be in its future.

I'd started off my ride with a visit to the eastern end of the Panhandle, where a mountain lion had been seen climbing a tree the night before. Whatever happened to the lion remains a mystery. The authorities arrived on the scene and apparently kept an eye on it late into the night, when it finally came down and wandered away. 

I couldn't resist photographing the scrub jay with its fluffy breast feathers since it so obligingly landed right next to me.

It was very finchy around the spring, and I believe most of them were house finches.

But at least one was a more stout-looking purple finch.

The view of the spring has been cleaned up since the last time I visited. Now you can clearly see the birds going in for a drink.

I was waiting for the towhee to show itself when an Anna's hummingbird visited this pretty, pink-flowered weed nearby.

Pollen on the Beak

While I was out on the bike I stopped by Mallard Lake to see if the common yellowthroat would show up. It was around 1 p.m. by then, and nobody seemed interested in visiting the little creek. I was about to give up when I heard a group of pygmy nuthatches moving closer and closer, and finally zeroing in for a drink and a bath.

This is the one in the back of the previous photo. It was the only one really bathing.

* * *