Editor’s Note: This is the tenth article in an occasional series about backyard birds.
The Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) is an infrequent visitor to backyard bird feeders.
Consider yourself lucky to see this large sparrow, with distinctive plumage, feeding on the ground beneath one of your hanging feeders during the late winter or early spring. Towhees observed this time of year are likely migrants passing through, on the way northward, back to their breeding grounds.
Kate Slankard, an avian biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) said the Eastern Towhee is common statewide, but not a yard bird. “They live at the wood’s edge, in shrubby areas. You have to go looking for them.”
Geographic Range and Distribution in Kentucky
For decades this species was known to biologists and bird watchers as the Rufous-sided Towhee, but in 1995 there was a name change, as explained in a posting on the Audubon Society website.
“The study of birds, like any science, remains a work in progress. New (DNA) findings or other (characteristic features) bring changes in the classification of species, which often result in new names.
The Rufous-sided Towhee was found across North America (but) differences between its western and eastern forms — in plumage, songs and genetics — brought an official split into two distinct species: the Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus) in the West, the Eastern Towhee in the East.”
The geographic range of the Eastern Towhee extends from east Texas, north to Minnesota, east to southern Maine, and down the Atlantic Coast to Florida.
Its breeding range includes the Great Lakes states, and as far south as West Virginia and Missouri. Its wintering range is in southern Texas and Louisiana.
The Eastern Towhee is found year-round in Kentucky and throughout most of the southeastern U.S. In Kentucky, this species is as widely distributed as any of the state’s resident birds, most abundant in forests with shrubby understory. Some birds move around seasonally, in-state.
There are four subspecies throughout its range and the first description in the scientific literature was made by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758.
Size and Coloration
The Eastern Towhee is a large sparrow. Its total length ranges from seven to nine inches, with a wingspan of eight to 12 inches. Its bodyweight averages about 1 1/2 ounces.
Adults have dark brown to black heads, rufous (reddish-brown) sides, a white belly, and a long dark tail with white edges. Their eyes are red.
The Eastern Towhee’s call sounds like “Drink your teeeee.”
Habitat
In Kentucky, its preferred habitat is semi-open and forested areas, with dense cover of weeds, tangles of grapevines, blackberry thickets, or shrubs. This includes brushy forest edges, regenerating clear-cuts, reclaimed strip mines, overgrown fencerows and abandoned fields.
In the mountain counties, the Eastern Towhee thrives in mixed pine and hardwood forests, with a dense understory of blueberries or mountain laurel.
Food Habits
The Eastern Towhee forages on the ground most of the time, noisily scratching in the leaf-litter, but sometimes in shrubs or on tree limbs close to the ground.
Art Lander Jr. is outdoors editor for KyForward. He is a native Kentuckian, a graduate of Western Kentucky University and a life-long hunter, angler, gardener and nature enthusiast. He has worked as a newspaper columnist, magazine journalist and author and is a former staff writer for Kentucky Afield Magazine, editor of the annual Kentucky Hunting & Trapping Guide and Kentucky Spring Hunting Guide, and co-writer of the Kentucky Afield Outdoors newspaper column.Its diet varies with the season and region, but is mostly insects, seeds (including small acorns), berries and small fruits.
In summer the Eastern Towhee eats mostly insects, including beetles, caterpillars, moths, bugs and ants, but it may also consume spiders, snails, millipedes and rarely small animals — salamanders, lizards, or snakes.
Reproduction and Nesting
The male defends its nesting territory by singing, often from a high perch. In courtship, he may give a soft “whispered” version of his song, may chase his female, or rapidly spread his tail feathers as a display.
The Eastern Towhee nests on the ground, usually under a shrub, or in low bushes usually less than five feet above the ground.
The nest is built by the female and is an open cup of grass, twigs, weeds, rootlets, and strips of bark, lined with finer materials like feathers, thin grasses, moss or sometimes animal hair.
In Kentucky, territorial singing begins in March, and clutches usually appear in early April. A second brood may appear in late May, or during the summer, as late as early August.
On average the female lays three to four creamy-white to very pale gray eggs, with spots of brown often concentrated at the larger end of the egg.
Incubation is about 12 to 13 days.
Both parents feed the nestlings, and the young leave the nest about 10 to 12 days after hatching, but usually remain with parents for some time before going out on their own.
Keep an eye out for this large sparrow that could be mistaken for a robin at a distance if it weren’t for its white breast. The Eastern Towhee is a bird of the wood’s edge that only infrequently visits backyards along the suburban/rural interface.
We have been blessed in Waynesboro to watch a pair outside out sunroom for about 3 weeks now. Wonderful to see both. She is a beautiful rust.
I never see one before. Last week I looking out see it. I had look it up see what kind of bird it was.
I have been blessed to have one visiting my backyard for about a week. Davison, Michigan
We have them under our feeders all the time…male, female and juvenile…in west TN. Beautiful!
A bird is a creature that needs protection in this world. I love birds, your writing is great.
I live in southern Illinois and I have a family of them in my back yard. They eat daily under my feeders. I really enjoy watching them.
Loved our pair of towhees here all summer feeding and scratching around on the ground just outside our window. Such fun to watch!
November 22 thru 24 rufous sided towee visiting under my feeders in late evening. Southern ontario south of lake huron
Love watching the towhee under the birdfeeders in the snow. It seems it is about one month early for it to be here, though. I hope the rose breasted grosbeaks come back this spring. I had three pair laset spring.
Sequim, wa. Saw a Male next to my porch 3/30/21 he was Gorgeous!! Looked him up, because I had never seen one before!!♡
Western Maryland : Had a towhee scratching around on the ground below my backyard feeder today. I was
also lucky enough to get a couple good pictures. Thought it was an Oriole at first but then noticed the white belly. After doing some searching on Google, we found the towhee.
I was watching birds in my backyard that I feed and spotted one I’d never seen before. I looked up it’s description and found out it’s a Towhee! My search brought me to this article! Thank you for the information on this neat looking bird!
~Karla
Columbus, Ohio
We have been watching a male Towhee at our feeder outside La Crosse, WI for the last few days. We’ve never seen one here before. Got a few pixs of him to show others. So distinctive looking and fun to watch him scratching around on the ground. Lorraine in WI.
We have numerous towhees every year that eat under our sunflower feeders in Shelby County, Indiana. A beautiful bird to watch.
I have towhees in my yard. Since early Spring they have been coming to eat at and under my bird feeders. They stay here most of the year. Definitely one of my favs. I love the two-footed scratching. We call it their dance. I’m in Knoxville, TN.
I have had the pleasure of a young Towhee visit me now for three years! And this year he has a lady friend!! He started landing on my back porch and I’d give him some fruit and oats! Now he actually calls me in the mornings when he’s on my porch!! SWEET SWEET SWEET!! I open my kitchen window and respond back!! He isn’t afraid of me and we actually “talk” to each other when he’s up in the trees or bushes!!! Everyone in my neighborhood is now aware of him and listen to us sushi to reach other! I’m in Tallahassee FL and it won’t be long he’ll be leaving! I can’t wait to see him every year and even wonder if I’ll see him! I have several pictures of him on my porch and in my yard!! I call him Mr Towhee! FYI I’m 63 and it throw me each year he’s come back!
I have a pair of Eastern Towhees visiting my window feeder and now have two juveniles visiting as well. Daddy Towhee first brought them by on my birthday and I’ve been watching them mature since. It’s quite an amazing sight!
I have Towhees in my yard in Maryland all summer. They visit my feeders often. Beautiful birds!
So happy I came across your article…we have an Eastern Towhee that blew in with the first blizzard of the season on the north shore of Lake Superior in Canada! The Towhee appears to be following the Evening Grosbeaks. Hope it survives.
A Towhee flew into my window , knocked itself out , I picked it up and helped it and put it in a box outside and the next day she was out flying around my house !! I was so happy !! She now feeds in my back yard under my bird feeder about every day or so ! I think she knows I helped save her !!
I heard rummaging under the azalea bushes and looked out and saw the Towee. I have never seen one and had to look it up. A beautiful bird and I hope it stays around. I will definitely keep my eyes out for it! A very nice surprise here in Augusta Ga this Christmas season!!