Is Santa Cruz spotted towhee singing a song of unrequited love?

"Contrary to your belief that your yard might not be the best spot for love, your visitor obviously disagrees. A male towhee finds a place up high and can spend up to 90 percent of its time sending out that trill, calling for a mate. If this is the same bird, he might not be calling for a mate, but for his mate. Towhees are primarily monogamous, but only during mating season. There's a courtship, then a mating, and then the pair raise their offspring."

"The trilling can continue for a short time after the love birds find each other, but the male soon becomes obsessed with protecting the territory, his mate and their nest. He might continue to sing as way of warning others to back off. If you notice the towhee cutting back on the calling, it's a good sign a love match has been made. You can instead listen for a soft, lisping song, which is how the two birds communicate with each other."

A spotted towhee may return to the same yard for multiple springs and can live many years; the California wild record is age 11. Male towhees often perch high and spend large amounts of time trilling to attract a mate or to call for an existing mate. Towhees are primarily monogamous during the mating season with a sequence of courtship, mating and raising offspring, after which pairs often separate and may reunite or choose new mates in later seasons. Persistent trilling can shift to territorial singing and soft lisping between paired birds, and reduced calling can indicate a successful pairing. A separate reader reports that coffee grounds placed outside disappear quickly, raising a question about what consumes them.

Read at The Mercury News