Towhee

On day 2 of our mini-vacation to Newburyport, we went to the famous Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. While the tides were wrong for us to see much in the way of shore birds, we did see numerous egrets, herons, and waterfowl. But the highlight of the day once again easily stands out: for about 20 minutes we observed a family of Eastern towhees(*) foraging on the dune-forest floor, turning over leaves to uncover and eat insects, delivering some to the begging fledgling. The female, pictured here, was quite cooperative, and I also got a good picture of the male. Junior, though, stuck to the thickets out of reach of the camera lens.

(*) Formerly called rufous-sided towhee, a much more evocative name

Bonus picture: who knew, cormorants can actually look threatening, or at least like Klingon Birds of Prey