On my recent trip to New Mexico, and while at the Bosque del Apache NWR south of Socorro, I encountered a Green-tailed towhee.  I’ve probably only seen one of these birds less than half a dozen times, with all sightings having been in Texas before I was seriously into birding photography.  While I’m sure there are places where the birds can be reliably seen, I just haven’t discovered those places yet. I consider myself lucky to have seen and photographed this bird.  I first encountered it where the habitat had been seriously altered by the erection of a large tent which was to be used in the Festival of the Cranes, an annual celebration that was to take place the following week.  This bird was backlit and with a lot of sparrows, but as I find often happens, it separated itself from the rest of the group and garnered my interest by its behavior.  I managed a few photos in bad light (see below) and managed to follow the bird for a couple of hundred feet before it disappeared over a fence in the headquarters complex.