Not a Stranger

This is one of a number of Spotted Towhees that frequent our neighborhood. It's a male -- females have similar markings, but are dark brown.

They like "shrubby thickets in residential areas," according to the Seattle Audubon Society website, so the tangle of wild blackberry bushes in the greenbelt just behind our house must rate highly. We often watch them scratching for food in the bark around the Nandinas at the front of our house -- it's hard to miss them, as they are enthusiastic two-footed scratchers, and scatter the bark widely.

It's well worth having to sweep a little bark back into the garden for the pleasure these birds, and others, give us!