Eastern Towhee

Eastern Towhees arrived to my backyard a couple weeks ago, so it’s high time I wrote about them. I like towhees because their songs are easy to recognize:

Drink your tea!

Of course, not every bird will sing the entire phrase. If fact, last evening, a towhee kept singing . . . Your tea . . . Your tea . . . Your tea. And I couldn’t help but think—Well, what about my tea?

Like people, birds are individuals and so they don’t always follow the “script.” I’m sometimes confused when a bird’s interpretation of its species song isn’t quite like I’ve heard other birds sing it. So learning to identify a bird by its song is always a bit tricky. Of course the task is easier with a song you can translate into words. For instance, once you've learned the Barred Owl’s song--Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all—it’s hard to forget. Same thing goes for the Eastern Towhee.

Towhees are actually large, colorful sparrows. The males are black and reddish-brown with white bellies and white spots on their wings. Females are less dramatic in shades of brown and white. Both have red eyes. (Photo is courtesy of Charles H. Warren).

Towhees like tangles of shrubby growth, for instance the multi-floral rose or forsythia. Towhees are rummaging birds so look for them on the ground, under cover of sprawling vegetation.

Till next time . . . happy birding!

Georgia Anne