Today was one of the those days where the sunny garden chair just beckoned
so loudly I had to sit for a spell. In the shadows of the Viburnums a towhee
scratched about and tentatively called out creeet? is if not sure about
whatever creeet means. If you have ever watched towhees you know they
scratch about in the leaves with a quick back and forth motion, then probe
around the overturned leaves for tasty morsels. A few minutes later another
towhee flew in and the two of them faced off and began scratching in front
of each other. First one would dosey doe, then the other would follow suit.
They did this for a couple of minutes, neither of them even pretending to
look for food. I have watched towhees for years and never seen this. My
Stokes guide to bird behavior does not mention this activity as part of
territorial display. Maybe they were just practising for tommorrow nights
square dance?

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer, Teacher and sunny day layabout.

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