Our Yard and Towhee Friends

One of the things I enjoy most about living in different places is getting to know the nature of the area: plants, trees, flowers, birds, creatures, rocks, and minerals. Marin, as we had hoped and envisioned, is proving to be excellent for communing with/observing/learning from nature, which is abundant here, in our own back (side) yard and beyond. Wherever we are, Jeph and I both tend to be very keyed into the rhythms/language/energy/spirit of the Universe and its natural manifestations. Choosing to be in places where man made objects have not taken over and suppressed nature is a priority for us. That is why we chose Marin – there is still a lot of, blessed, Open Space here. Space to explore, observe, learn, and just Be. And that is one of the top reasons we chose our new home – all along its side is a yard, and every room has one or more windows looking out onto that yard (except for the bathroom, which has a window looking onto the street and hills, from tree level.) It is full of trees, many of them new to us, and we are gradually learning their names: acacia being one.

We share the yard with many creatures: lots of spiders (who’s webs we admire, and try to avoid walking through), squirrels – gray and red (who’s daring acrobatics entertain us daily), butterflies and moths (I see more here, and wherever we go in Marin, than I’ve ever seen before – some very pretty), hornets (not a favorite, because they sting, but we coexist peacefully), deer (at least occasionally, because they left some scat behind one night), and many birds. Crows fly past and we can see and hear them in the tall trees of neighboring yards. Hawks (and possibly falcons and golden eagles – its hard to tell from far away) soar overhead throughout the day. Even without nectar producing flowers, hummingbirds hover through at least once or twice a week. Scrub jays are vocal regulars and we like them as much as blue jays, maybe even more because they’re a bit scrappier. And there are four so far that we are delighted to be meeting for the first time: dark eyed juncos, plain titmice, a white crowned (or other?) sparrow, and towhees.

We heard the towhees before we saw them. That’s what makes them particularly fun to have around – they scratch around in the leaves looking for food. At first, we assumed it was just the local squirrels doing their thing, but the rustling went on for a long time and finally got our attention. We saw a black and orange bird and it was really funny to watch him kick up the leaves and dirt. So we looked in our bird book and found out he was a towhee. Cool name! There are several types of towhees – these are “rufous sided.” They visit us every day, with the female joining sometimes (the picture if of her), and we always get a kick out of their hopping and scratching.

Towhees, large ground-feeding sparrows with long, rounded tails, are often seen scratching for insects and seeds under shrubbery or brush. They hop and kick with both feet together; usually fly close to the ground, pumping their tail.

-from the Golden Guide to Field Identification – Birds of North America