In Mesa Verde National Park I was looking out at the Fire Temple/New Fire House attentively. But this bird kept chirping loudly somewhere in the tree. Finally I saw it and was able to take some pictures. After googling it, I learned it is a male Spotted Towhee. A couple of days later, I saw it again in Denver, Colorado and Santa Fe, New Mexico. Interestingly this is one of the cool facts in All About Birds: “Early in the breeding season, male Spotted Towhees spend their mornings singing their hearts out, trying to attract a mate. Male towhees have been recorded spending 70 percent to 90 percent of their mornings singing. Almost as soon as they attract a mate, their attention shifts to other things, and they spend only about 5 percent of their time singing.”
在梅薩維德國家公園(Mesa Verde National Park)，我正仔細地看著火廟/新火屋，但是這隻鳥一直在樹上的某個地方大聲地叫著。我終於看到它了，並且能夠拍到幾張照片。谷歌搜索後，我才知道它是一隻雄性斑唧鹀。幾天後，我在科羅拉多州丹佛和新墨西哥州聖達菲再次看到了這種鳥。有趣的是，這是 All About Birds 中的一個很酷的事實：“在繁殖季節早期，雄性斑唧鹀每天早上都在大聲歌唱鳴叫，試圖吸引配偶。據記錄，雄性斑唧鹀花70%到90%的時間在早上唱歌鳴叫。幾乎一旦它們吸引了配偶，它們的注意力就會轉移到其他事情上，那時它們只會花大約5%的時間唱歌鳴叫。”
Notes 筆記
- The spotted towhee is a large New World sparrow, roughly the same size as a Robin. Adult males have a generally darker head, upper body and tail with a white belly, rufous sides, white spots on their back and white wing bars. Females look similar but are dark brown and grey instead of black.
- The spotted towhee lives in dry upland forests, open forests, brushy fields, and chaparrals. and breeds across north-western North America. It is present in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and southern British Columbia year round.
- Its breeding habitat in the southwest is largely dependent on Coastal sage scrub, as it provides cover from predators.
- They nest either on the ground or low in bushes.
- These birds forage on the ground or in low vegetation. During the breeding season (spring and summer) they mainly eat insects, ground dwelling beetles, spiders and other arthropods. In the fall and winter they focus on foraging for acorns, seeds oats and berries.
- 斑唧鹀是一種大型的新世界麻雀，大小與知更鳥大致相同。成年雄性的頭部、上身和尾巴通常顏色較深，腹部呈白色，兩側呈紅褐色，背部有白色斑點，翅膀上有白色條紋。雌性看起來與雄性相似，但是是深棕色和灰色而不是黑色。
- 斑唧鹀生活在乾燥的高地森林、開闊的森林、灌木叢生的田野和叢林中。在北美西北部繁殖。在加州、內華達州、亞利桑那州、猶他州、俄勒岡州、華盛頓州、愛達荷州和不列顛哥倫比亞省南部全年都可看到它們。
- 它在西南部的繁殖棲息地主要依賴沿海鼠尾草灌木叢，因為鼠尾草幫它們提供了掩護，以防捕食者。
- 它們在地面或灌木叢中築巢。
- 在繁殖季節(春季和夏季)，它們主要吃昆蟲、地棲甲蟲、蜘蛛和其他節肢動物。 在秋季和冬季，它們專注於尋找橡子、燕麥種子和漿果。
References 參考資料
- Wikipedia: Spotted towhee
- All about birds: Spotted Towhee
- Audubon: Spotted Towhee
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