Tommy Towhee

One of my favorite birds is an Eastern Towhee that has visited with us for the past two years. I know that spring is really here when I hear him singing his little heart out in the same tree between our house and our neighbor. He starts his "Drink your teeeeee" song very early in the mornings when we walk the dogs. He always makes himself visible as if to say, "Good morning." Actually, he is more likely thinking, "When are you going to put out that Golden hair for nesting material?" (Many of the bird nests around here are lined with silky Golden Retriever hair. When you have two Goldens, you have a lot of leftover hair to pass around.)

Last summer, we were delighted to have him visit our birdfeeder, a bit unusual for a ground feeder like the Towhee. He comes to see us almost every afternoon and follows the same pattern. He flies to a nearby tree and sings his little "Chweeeee", flies to the deck railing, hops a few times and then flies onto the sunflower feeder. He doesn't mind at all if we are sitting on the deck at the time. He simply goes about his business, glancing at us now and then.

Initially we thought he was coming for leftover suet. When the woodpeckers pulverize the suet cakes, we would crumble some of it and put it in the seed tray. With the hot weather we are having, we are changing the suet more often and don't want to put the old suet in the feeder tray. That doesn't seem to bother Tommy Towhee. He eats the sunflower seeds.

He is such a friendly bird, lovely to look at and wonderful to hear. I caught some shots of him the other day when I was on the deck.

Isn't he a sight to behold? And isn't it silly for me to think this is MY bird? But how many times do you have a bird that comes at the same time almost every day, and doesn't even mind if you are around? As far as I'm concerned, that does make him MY BIRD.