7.25″ long. The Eastern Towhee is a medium-sized bird with a conical bill and red eye. The male has a black head, back, wings, and tail. These colors are brown in the female. The long tail has white outer tail feathers that show up well in flight. The wings have a white patch at the base of the primaries. The belly is white with rusty flanks and a buffy undertail. The similar Spotted Towhee has more white spots on the wings.
The Eastern Towhee is a common breeder arriving in mid March and departing by mid November.
The Eastern Towhee frequently feeds on the ground with a double-scratching motion by pulling both legs backward at the same time. It was originally called a Rufous-sided Towhee but it has recently been split from the similar Spotted Towhee. The Spotted Towhee is a more western bird that occurs in this area during migration and occasionally during the winter whereas the Eastern Towhee is gone during the winter but arrives to in the spring to breed in this area. The song is a whistled “drink you teeaaa” with the last part trilled. The call is a distinctive “chwenk”.
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