Spotted Towhee on the Tuolumne River Parkway and a Few Thoughts on Diversity

Spotted Towhees (Pipilo maculatus) are a colorful sight, although they tend to be a little shy when I see them on the Tuolumne River Parkway Trail. Many times I've been able to only see a mysterious red eye staring out of the shrubs. So it was a bit of a treat this week to have two of them just sitting out there just a few feet off the trail. Given that they were singing their heart out, I'm guessing it's springtime, and love is in the air.

The Spotted Towhee is one of those birds I had no idea existed in the world, and much less that it lived in the river environments close to my own home. I can still remember those days fifty years ago when I thought there were just a few kinds of rocks and minerals, and then I discovered the incredible world of geology that changed the trajectory of my life. In the same way, I found out only five years ago that there were more than just pigeons and sparrows that lived in my immediate neighborhood. I could not have conceived that with the completion of the Tuolumne River Parkway Trail that after two or three years, myself and another couple of birders would discover more than 120 species living along the walkway, with more being sighted every month. I was amazed by the diversity of species I could see.
And the really neat part? This is pretty much true no matter where you live. Would you believe that the most diverse county in California for bird species is Los Angeles, with 544? Followed closely by San Diego with 542? It's true that there are more eyes looking in the skies in those urban landscapes, but the sightings are real. If that seems unlikely, get out and have a look in any open spaces where you live: parks, rivers, refuges, even school yards. You might be amazed.