This painting of an Eastern Towhee is a little unusual. Snow isn’t the first thing I normally associate with this species. For a number of years a male towhee would show up in our yard a few weeks before I’d see any other reports of Eastern Towhee on eBird. He’d hang around in the hedge and pop under the feeders to eat what was dropped by the other birds and not yet harvested by juncos.
After a few weeks the rest of the towhees would hit the area, by which time he seemed to have already established his territory. Migrating a little early carries its risks, and one year that poor guy got hit by a late snowstorm that delivered a few inches of wet, clumpy snow. I got a lot of great photos of American Robins and our towhee friend fluffed up and looking a bit miserable. I hope they were thinking warm thoughts. Fortunately, they all seemed to survive the snow just fine.
I remember reading a quote from a landscape/wildlife photographer who said bad weather can make for great photos. I think that makes sense. It certainly gives things a different look when the lighting and settings are changed up.
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