My husband and I took our usual walk around the neighborhood this morning, giving the dogs a chance to catch up on all the scents they missed overnight. As we were entering the bottom of the walk, I saw two Spotted Towhees in a juniper tree. I’ve never seen Spotted Towhees together for any amount of time, aside from the pair that live in our spruce tree coming to the feeders together in winter. But both of the birds I saw today appeared to be males (the colors of females, while similar, are muted).

The bird on the right was singing his “cha-cha-cha-teeeee!” song.

Then he would look over at the other bird, for all the world as if he expected him to try his hand at singing.

Warning! This is anthropomorphism! I am projecting human experiences, expectations and emotions on an entirely different species. But it really looked as if dad was trying to teach his son how to sing. For the purposes of this blog — especially as it is Father’s Day — we’re going to go with it…

“Here’s how you do it… cha-cha-cha-teeeee!”

“Now you try it!”

And the second bird let out a chirp.

But then, he got the first few “cha-cha’s” out. Great job, Junior! Keep working at it, and one day soon you’ll be able to belt it out like dad!

Great job for being a good father dad! Happy Father’s Day!