Eastern Towhee

An Eastern Towhee is a large Sparrow known for their bold patterns and characteristic calls. Their name has been derived from this call. Early vernacular names for this species were chewink and joree. It is not a well-known fact that the discovery of this bird was during a particularly tragic episode in American History.

About Eastern Towhees

These birds were found by John White, a painter-cartographer. He had sketched both male and female Eastern Towhees on his visit to Roanoke Island in North Carolina. Copies of this species were found much later.

Eastern Towhees are quite popular birds that widely occur in their range, but there are a lot of missing pieces in their natural history. The characteristic songs of these birds have particularly garnered a lot of attention. Although there is a lot of interest in studying these birds they are difficult to study because they are mostly roaming on the ground in dense habitats. The dense vegetation and shrubbery make it difficult to spot these birds.

Some populations of Eastern Towhees are permanent residents, while others are residents. Although these birds have some very apparent differentiating features, they are otherwise very close in resemblance to their Sparrow relatives. This resemblance is in behavior, not appearance. Eastern Towhees are monogamous birds that often portray territorial
behavior.

Eastern Towhees have a 2-footed scratching technique to sort through leaf litter to uncover arthropods. This behavior is especially useful during winter, during this period they obtain a majority of their food from the ground. During the breeding season, they also hunt insects and pick fruit from perches.

Eastern Towhees use a number of methods to communicate with each other, and we are slowly being able to understand this communication. By studying this communication, we are also able to understand how it develops over time.

● Eastern Towhees Photos, Color Pattern, Song
● Eastern Towhees Size, Eating behavior, Habitat
● Eastern Towhees Range and Migration, Nesting

Eastern Towhees Color Pattern

New younglings are pink-skinned and naked when born; however, they have scattered tufts of gray down. The down color has also been described as pale-clove brown. As the juveniles’ feathers start growing, it displaces the down.

Adult males have black necks, heads, and other upperparts. Light chestnut fringing can be sptted on their feathers when they are fresh. Their tails are brownish-black, and their upper tail coverts are black. Their bellies are white with a heavy demarcation due to their black hoods. The flanks and sides of males are vibrantly reddish brown. The under tail coverts and dull brown, and their underwing coverts are generally grayish. In spring their upper parts and head become darker and shinier. As winter approaches this gloss begins to fade because of the wearing and tearing of feathers.

Female Eastern Towhees are similar to males but they display a few differences. Their neck, head, the upper portion of the breast, and upper parts are completely cinnamon brown. Some other minute differences are present in wing feathers.

Description and Identification

Eastern Towhees are unstreaked birds that have black conical bills. Their tails are long and rounded with a presence of white corners visible in flight.

As a result of their unique physical features, Eastern Towhees are very rarely get mixed up with other species. As their backs are unspotted, they are easily distinguished from Spotted Towhees (their western relative). Spotted Towhees are their closest relative. Even Juvenile Eastern Towhees are easy to differentiate from other sparrow species due to their long, round tail.

Eastern Towhees make their first call when they are 7-8 days old. This is an alarm call. Nestlings have 2-3 calls they use to beg for food. Younglings also make begging calls till they are dependant on the adults for food. Nestlings that are very young utter soft notes that are barely audible. It is necessary for Eastern Towhees to learn their songs by listening to older birds of their species singing.

Although you can identify these birds easily on the basis of their physical appearance, their wide range of calls, and their song or subsong can also help you identify them.

Eastern Towhee Song

Eastern Towhees have a subsong that occurs during autumn and winter. This subsong is a disorganized sequence of warbles, trills, and abrupt notes. This subsong is mostly from a low perch. As the subsong continues, the warbling disappears and other portions of the subsong become more apparent.

Female Eastern Towhees does not sing the primary song. Isolated males never learn their primary song because they need to learn the song. It takes time for the males to be able to sing their complete song. The song of Eastern Towhees is the best-studied portion of their vocal repertoire.

One of the most important calls of these birds is their chewink alarm call. Eastern Towhees of all sexes and ages make this call during every season. This call is either used when predators are approaching the nest or when you can hear disturbances near the nest. Sometimes, this call also occurs in other situations. You can observe individual variations in tone in this call. There’s also variation in the intensity of this call depending on the urgency of the situation. One such interesting variation is the chewink scream. This scream is uttered either during sexual interactions or during aggressive behavior. Geographical variations affect the vocal quality of the call.

Another common call is the lisp call. You can hear this high-pitch, clear call from all populations of Eastern Towhees. The duration of this call is about 1 second. This is a soft call that is not audible beyond a short distance. Families and pairs use this call to communicate with each other. Birds in flocks can also use this call for the same purpose. The tic call is another call that both males and females commonly use. It consists of a single high-pitched and abrupt note. This call is also an alarm call that is used while mobbing an approaching predator. Not many pauses are apparent during this call. Variations between Tic-twitter and tic are common. Eastern Towhees use a number of other calls to communicate.

The primary song of Eastern Towhees serves the purpose of the male advertising himself to potential mates. The song consists of 1-3 or 4-5 introductory notes followed by a single trill. Drink-your-teeeeeeee is a transliteration of this song. Most introductory notes are different from each other, but this song is not devoid of repetitions. 1-2 repetitions of notes are frequent. The frequency of the primary song varies between 2.3-7.1 kHz. On average, the song lasts for just over a second.

You can observe females singing, but their songs vastly differ from the songs of the males. However, the males are better singers.

Eastern Towhee Size

Eastern Towhees are a large species of sparrows. They are 6.8-9.1 inches long and their wingspan is 7.9-11.8 inches. The weight of these birds varies between 1.1-1.9 ounces.

Eastern Towhee Behavior

Eastern Towhees are ground foragers who spend most of their time hopping around on the ground. When foraging, they hop around slowly while looking for potential food. When attempting to cross a certain area the speed of their hopping increases and they also perform longer hops. You can also observe occasional walking. When these birds are above the ground they hop from one perch to another, this hopping might require an assist from their wings if the distance between two perches is too significant.

Male Eastern Towhees already establish their territory before the arrival of the female. At first, males treat the female like she’s unwelcome, but as time passes the males become more tolerant of the female. Soon, he expresses interest in her and follows her around.

Eastern Towhees indulge in a number of behaviors related to self-maintenance. This includes head-scratching, bathing, preening, and stretching. You can observe them sunbathing during the day after the bird has taken a bath. Panting with an open mouth is common during sunbathing.

If an intruder arrives at the nesting territory of a male Eastern Towhee, fighting can occur. These intruders don’t generally indulge in fighting if they are challenged, they usually withdraw. Chest-chest fights occur if both parties wish to fight.

What Eastern Towhees Eat

Eastern Towhees are omnivores that include a number of different foods into their diet. They majorly consume fruits, seeds, and invertebrates. Beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, moths, caterpillars, spiders, millipedes, snails, centipedes, bugs, and wasps are all part of the animal portion of their diet.

The plant portion of their diet can include grass stems, soft flower buds, and foliage buds.

These birds are primarily ground foragers, but they also seek or hunt for food in foliage during spring and summer. As new leaves are growing around this time, foliage gleaning is an ideal way of hunting prey like caterpillars, or plant matter like soft foliage buds.

Eastern Towhees Habitat

Eastern Towhees are birds that generally inhabit overgrown fields, scrubby thickets, overgrown fields, and forest edges. They choose habitats that have an abundance of litter to scratch around and forage for food. These birds prefer warmer climates instead of cool and moist regions (especially during breeding).

Their migrating habitat is not very different from their breeding habitat, but during this time they can inhabit smaller or wetter areas that are completely unsuitable for breeding. These may include wetland thickets, cemeteries, suburban landscapes, wooded fencerows, and blackberry thickets. Overwintering habitat also does not differ much
from their breeding habitat.

Range and Migration

Eastern Towhees are widely spread throughout the eastern U.S. and southeast Canada. Their range extends from southern Saskatchewan and Ontario to Florida. You can find some populations northwards from southern New England in northern Illinois and Indiana.

The northern populations of Eastern Towhees are mostly migratory, whereas the southern populations are mainly sedentary or permanent residents. Southern populations might be hit by an influx of northern populations. These birds leave their breeding grounds between mid-September to mid-October.

Eastern Towhee Lifecycle

Male Eastern Towhees are the first to return to their breeding grounds if they are migrants. They establish their territory before the arrival of the female. Singing from a high perch is the male’s strategy of protecting its territory from potential encroachers or predators. Courting males might use a whispered version of their primary song to impress
the females. Other courtship behaviors are chasing, and showing off the white spots on their tail.

Approximately in the time between early March to mid-May, the female lays from 2-6 eggs. These eggs can have a number of different colors or patterns. They incubate these eggs for 12-13 days. They are 0.8-1 inches in length and 0.7-0.8 inches in width. Eastern Towhees can raise up to 3 broods in a year. This might be more plausible if the birds are permanent residents. After a nestling period of 10-12 days, the fledglings are ready to leave the nest.

Nesting

Female Eastern Towhees select the nesting sites and contracts the nest. This process can take up to 5 days. In these 5 days, the females spend a few hours each day on this process. Most of the building is done early in the morning.

Twigs, dead leaves, leaf stems, and bark strips make up the nest. The cup is 4 inches in diameter. Inside this is an inner cup that is lined with rootlets, animal hair, and fine grasses. This inner cup has a depth of 1.5 inches.

Anatomy of an Eastern Towhee

Eastern Towhees are large Sparrows with characteristic long and rounded tails. Their bills are short and their wings are a medium size.

Final Thoughts

Eastern Towhees are truly fascinating birds! Their vibrant and glossy plumage makes them a sight to behold, and their unique physical features distinguish them from other Sparrows. Their uniquely shaped tail also draws attention to it. Not only are they impressive in their physical appearance, they also have a remarkable vocal repertoire.

Ornithology

Eastern Towhee Bird Girl Video

Bird Watching Academy & Camp Subscription Boxes

At Bird Watching Academy & Camp we help kids, youth, and adults get excited and involved in bird watching. We have several monthly subscription boxes that you can subscribe to. Our monthly subscription boxes help kids, youth, and adults learn about birds, bird watching, and bird conservation.

Bird Watching Binoculars for Identifying Eastern Towhees

The most common types of bird watching binoculars for viewing Eastern Towhees are 8×21 binoculars and 10×42 binoculars. Bird Watching Academy & Camp sells really nice 8×21 binoculars and 10×42 binoculars. You can view and purchase them here.

Eastern Towhee Iron On Patches

Kids, Youth, and Adults love to collect our Bird Watching Academy & Camp iron on patches. Our bird watching patches help you keep track of the birds you have seen an identified. You can also display the patches on our Bird Watching Academy & Camp banners.

The Eastern Towhee is a great iron-on patch to start your collection with. These patches are durable and you can sew or iron them on to just about anything.

Eastern Towhee Stickers

Stickers are a great way for you to display your love for bird watching and the Eastern Towhee. We sell a monthly subscription sticker pack. The sticker packs have 12 bird stickers. These sticker packs will help your kids learn new birds every month.

Bird Feeders For Eastern Towhees

There are many types of bird feeders. Here are our favorite bird feeders for your backyard. We use all of these bird feeders currently. Kids will have a great time watching birds eat at these bird feeders. Using this collection of bird feeders will provide a wide variety and many types of birds.

Best Bird Houses for Eastern Towhees

There are many types of bird houses. Building a bird house is always fun but can be frustrating. Getting a bird house for kids to watch birds grow is always fun. If you spend a little extra money on bird houses, it will be well worth every penny and they’ll look great.