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.

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 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 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.