It actually stopped raining yesterday and so I was out and about. While
staging some plants in pots for this weeks student plantings I took a break
and stretched my tired back. There was a rustle and scurrying in the
underbrush and so I squatted and waited and along came a male towhee. It
would scamper a foot or so, then halt, then flare out its tail and sort of
wag it up and down and back and forth a bit, then scurry ahead to the next
stop and do it again. Intrigued I watched then followed the bird. It a
covered a large circle of underbrush, maybe 40 feet by 30 feet, stopping
every couple of feet to display its tail. As it got to the point of almost
returning to where I had first seen it, it stopped and hopped up onto a
branch and gave its trill song, although very short in duration. Another
scrunch of leaves attracted my attention and there was a female towhee.
After a bit the male flew down to the ground within a couple feet of the
female and did his tail display, tail open showing white side feathers and
kind of wiggling up and down and sideways but not as much as before. The
female turned around and ran off into the thicket and the male sort of
deflated, his tail closed and kind of drooped to the ground. After a few
minutes of kicking around in the leaves, the male was joined by the female
who also kicked around and feed, although she seemed to look at the male a
lot. By this time I was cold and stiff and had to move, so I mentally told
the male towhee, dude, I think she likes you, then stood up, sending
both birds into the shadows.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer
This week in the woods available at:
http://share3.esd105.wednet.edu/rsandelin/NWnature/NWNature.htm