Spotted Towhee and Varied Thrush twitchfest

I took Friday off of work this week because 5-day work-weeks are for suckers, and decided that I would spend the morning twitching some of the rarities that had been seen southwest of where I live. I had already seen the Spotted Towhee that was coming to a feeder near Glen Williams, but that was my first destination in the morning as I was hoping to take a few better photos in the fore-casted sunlight.

The gracious home-owners mentioned that I could stand on their porch, and so I settled in with my camera ready, watching the juncos and tree sparrows feeding below the round feeder on the porch. Eventually a flash of orange and black appeared in my peripheral vision and I quickly looked up to see the Spotted Towhee perching in a shrub near the feeders. Eventually he hopped down to the porch to grab a seed or two before disappearing. 

Spotted Towhee - Glen Williams

The bird was much less skittish than when it first arrived and he seemed to have taken control of the feeder. Whenever the funny looking orange and black bird landed on the porch all the other sparrows gave him his space to feed...

Spotted Towhee - Glen Williams

Here are a few final photos from the impromptu photoshoot. I left the bird satisfied with the results!

Spotted Towhee - Glen Williams

Spotted Towhee - Glen Williams

Spotted Towhee - Glen Williams

My next stop was to twitch the female Varied Thrush that had been found at Guelph Lake. The thrush, originally found by Andrew Bailey earlier in the week, had been feeding on crabapples and buckthorn berries at the north end of the dam just west of the Nature Centre. 

The wind had picked up at this point and standing on the dam while retaining some warmth proved to be a challenge. Fortunately the conversation with Len Manning, Barry Coombs, and several others was pretty lively, and it did not take long for the thrush to suddenly appear before our eyes!

Varied Thrush - Guelph Lake C.A.

The photos are not quite ideal because she was tucked in deep in the shrubs to stay partially out of the wind, but it was pretty cool to study a western rarity such as this. Hopefully the supply of fruit lasts so she can survive the winter!

Varied Thrush - Guelph Lake C.A.

Varied Thrush - Guelph Lake C.A.