Green-Tailed Towhee

Yesterday I went to Big Morongo Canyon Preserve to look for lazuli buntings, as I described in my post yesterday. I got there before the gate opened and went to the next door park to go in the back way. A man was busy looking in a tree and I stopped to talk to him. He was looking for a barn owl which was nesting in a whole in the tree. I went off on my own, then ran into him again later on on one of the trails in the preserve. I discovered that we were the same age and that he is incredibly knowledgeable about birds. I was amazed as he would hear a bird sound and then identify the bird. He showed me how to use Merlin to identify the sounds of birds. I expressed my desire to see a lazuli bunting and then went off on my own again. Later, I saw him again at the bird feeders and proudly told him I'd seen the lazuli buntings and he was excited for me. I listened to him talking to a woman next to him, answering her questions and then he identified a green-tailed towhee on the ground. I butted in and asked where? He identified a bird that looked much like a California towhee, darting in and out of the bushes, with a red cap and some greenish coloring on the tail and on the side. I was excited as this was the second bird I'd seen that day I'd never seen before. As I looked closer I was a little shocked that I'd not recognized it as different. It was a lot more colorful than the California towhee that I see so much of. 

An illustration of the green-tailed towhee from Birds of the World. 

I only saw one and only got a couple of decent photos of it. It was in the shadows and so the colors did not stand out at the time like they do now that they have been manipulated in Light Room. 

This is a range map from Birds of the World. The map makes it appear that they are year-round residents of our area, but my knowledgeable new friend said that they are normally seen at higher elevations. 

Wikipedia notes that it is the smallest towhee. It also says that it is "fairly tame, but often stays hidden under a bush. It is fairly common in habitats with sage brush and other such bushes...[but] it is uncommonly seen because of its tendency to stay under cover."