Eastern Towhee
(Pipilo erythrophthalmus)
Adult Male
(Pipilo erythrophthalmus)
Adult Male
Eastern Towhees are large sparrows with a white belly and rufous flanks. Females have a brown back, head, wings, and breast while males have a black back, head, wings, and breast. Both males and females have a dark red eye with a black pupil. The tails of females are brown with white sides, white the males have a black tail with white sides. Both sexes have white spots on their wings. They also have gray to black bills and gray to pink legs. Juveniles are streaked with brown on the breast.
The Towhees common song is melodious, and sounds like “drink-your-tea-hehehehe”. Common call is a “Towee!" They also emit several chipping noises reminiscent of a cardinal or other sparrow.
This male Eastern Towhee sings "drink-your-tea-hehehehe" from atop a snag at Sparrow Pond in the Morning. Notice the amount of time between each call.
This is the song a Towhee makes that gave them their name: "Towee!" In this individual video the "t" is very muted, and this footage will be updated when better footage has been captured.
Eastern Towhee Tow-hehehehehe and tow-ehw-ehw-ehw calls, the former being at the end. A Towhee will usually do three Tow-hehehehehe calls then one tow-ehw-ehw-ehw call, then start all over again.
This is a rare Zeee call that Eastern Towhees sometimes make. Not much else is know about this call.
Towhees like brushy wooded areas. This includes riparian forests, mature forest with undergrowth, forest edge, streamside forest, brushy 1st year successional forest, brushy fields (with small shrubs nearby), and suburbia. Towhees prefer lots of leaf litter.
Towhees bring joy to the spring, when you can hear their calls echoing through the forest. Males like to sing from up high, broadcasting from small shrubs and bushes. When not trying to impress, which is most of their time, Towhees will forage on the leaf litter near the ground.
Towhees forage by jumping forward, landing, then springing backward bringing the leaves on the floor with them, revealing any tasty morsels that may be hidden. When they do this their tail opens briefly, showing the white of the sides of the tail. Once a female is attracted, they will build a nest of leaves, twigs, and straw in a dense shrub. Juveniles look fluffier with brown streaks on the belly.
American Robin
American Robins look very similar to Eastern Towhees, but notice that they have yellow bills, white eye-arks, striping on the throat (males, occasionally females), and a less extensive tail stripes. They are also much grayer than towhees, and are much more common. They prefer the same habitats. Their calls differ, the robin makes flute-like warbles, the towhee making chips and their signature calls. Robins stand more upright also, while towhees are more hunched, and robins flick leaves away with their bill, not their feet.
Gray Catbirds are very similar to towhees in posture, but note that they are all gray with a black cap, have a straighter black bill, and have a wider range of calls. Calls are not reliable since the catbird is a mimic. They prefer the same habitats. Catbirds also only have rufous on the undertail coverts.
The best time to see towhees is spring, when lots of them are migrating north. They are commonly seen in all parks, except Lubber Run and Bluemont Park, in which they are uncommon. They are particularly abundant in the brushy areas around sparrow pond. They are also uncommon in wooded suburbs, such as those facing parks.