Towhee<\/b><\/p>\n
I was out snooping around the rural parts south of Raleigh yesterday, looking for interesting things to take pictures of. I found a few things, including the acrobatic little barn swallow shown below; I'll be posting pix here in the next few days.<\/p>\n
One thing I saw, while walking around in the woods near Jordan Lake was a black, brown and white bird that I'd never seen before. I tried to get a picture of him, but couldn't get my big lens on quick enough before he made himself scarce. But, I remembered what he looked like, so when I got home, I whipped out my handy Peterson Field Guide<\/a> and tried to find him.<\/p>\n After a bit of flipping through, I saw what might have been it, a \"Black-headed Grosbeak\" - except they don't make it into my part of of the country, and the picture in the book doesn't show a head crest. However, right above the Black-headed is the \"Rose-breasted Grosbeak\"; the big patch of red disqualifies this one, too, but the description of its song was funny:<\/p>\n It's always nice to see someone having fun with their job (it gives me hope).<\/p>\n\nSong, rising and falling in passages; resembles Robin's song, but mellower, given with more feeling (as if a Robin has taken voice lessons).\n<\/ul>\n