What’s In My Backyard?

Meet the neighbors: Spotted Towhee

For the introduction to this series, see here

You will often see this brightly colored little bird scurrying around under trees and bushes scratching in the leaves on the ground. These birds live in the western United States. If you live in the east, you will have the Eastern Towhee living near you instead. Eastern Towhees look similar to Spotted Towhees but they don’t have as many white marks on their backs. They are so much alike that at one point, scientists thought they were the same species! They called both of them the Rufous Sided Towhee. In spring, you will often hear towhees singing enthusiastically. A male towhee in spring may spend up to 90% of his time singing!

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