Just outside my condo building, tucked among the layered greens of the arborvitae, a pair of eastern towhees are keeping watch over a clutch of hatchlings, soft and new.

Both parents are on high alert. Their partnership is quiet but fierce, taking turns, trading glances, sounding alarms at every shadow that passes too close.

There’s a kind of poetry in their teamwork, a lesson written in feathers and instinct. It’s not just one bird standing guard, but two—shoulder to shoulder, holding the line against the world.

I find myself pausing on the sidewalk, watching their choreography of care, and wondering about the ways we show up for each other when it matters most.

How do we share the work of protection, the burden of worry, the hope that what we’re guarding will make it through?

 

Journal Prompt

Write about a time when you and someone else (whether a partner, friend, family member, or colleague) stood together to protect something precious.

• How did you share the responsibility?
• What emotions arose from this joint vigilance or defense?
• Did this experience deepen your sense of connection or reveal new dynamics in your relationship?
• How does observing the towhees’ teamwork inspire you to think about cooperation in your own life?
• Consider what you are currently protecting or defending, and who stands with you.

 

Fiction Prompt:

Create a story centered on two characters who must protect a fragile new life or project, mirroring the towhees’ shared defense of their hatchlings.

• Show how each character’s strengths complement the other’s in this high-stakes situation.
• Explore tensions and trust that arise from working closely under pressure.
• Insert the birds and their hatchlings that inspired this post into your story.
• Use the dense arborvitae and the hidden nest as metaphors for safety and vulnerability.
• End with a moment that reveals what true partnership looks like when both risk everything together.

 

Poetry

Write a poem that captures the fierce, watchful presence of both the male and female towhee guarding their nest.

• Use imagery of sharp eyes, quick calls, and protective movements.
• Contrast the vulnerability of the hatchlings with the strength of the parents’ combined defense.
• Explore themes of unity, shared sacrifice, and the quiet power of standing together.
• Consider the natural sounds and movements that symbolize this partnership.

 

Creative Nonfiction

You can’t stand beside the arborvitae outside my condo and watch the eastern towhee parents defend their nest, but you can step into their world through research and imagination.

Prompt

Begin by visiting the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Eastern Towhee.

• Spend time reading about their habits, calls, nesting behavior, and the ways both parents work together to protect their young.
• Listen to their “chewink” calls and explore their photos, learning how these birds move through the undergrowth, how they build their nests, and how they respond to threats. Watch them forage here.

Then, write a creative nonfiction piece that weaves together:

• Fascinating facts you discover about eastern towhees (cite specific behaviors or details that surprise or move you).
• A personal reflection on a time when you (alone or with someone else) fiercely protected something vulnerable—an idea, a relationship, a project, or even a dream.
• Draw parallels between your experience and the towhees’ partnership and vigilance.
• Consider what it means to be both tender and fierce, and how the natural world might be a mirror for your own instincts to defend what matters.

Let the research guide you into new territory, and let the story of the towhees shape the story you tell about yourself.