The Intrepid Towhee

Written By: William McReynolds - Highlands Plateau Audubon Society | Issue: 2018/08 - August

This large sparrow, the Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus), looks more like an American Robin than, say, a House Sparrow, but a member of the sparrow family it is.  

There are white-eyed towhees to our south, but our towhees here in Western North Carolina are red-eyed and plentiful in our woods. The male is black-headed with a sooty black cape, reddish-brown body stripes below the wings, a white belly, and white patches prominent on black plumage.  The female is similarly marked with cinnamon brown plumage on the head and cape.

Towhee occupy the understory of the forest, noisy solitary foragers that rummage around in the fallen leaves and twigs on the forest floor.  They characteristically hop backwards, two-footed, to upturn the leaves and expose insects and worms in the moist decay.  Their varied diet includes seeds, insects, spiders, fruit, and snails.  They might come to your feeder to compete for seeds or eat fallen seeds on the ground.

Eastern Towhee are year-rounders in the Southeastern U.S., although some migrate to breeding grounds in the Northeastern U.S. and Great Lakes states.  Their natural habitat is in forest openings and areas with thickets and dense shrubs.

Nests are built in five days by the female on the ground in the fallen leaves or in bushes or tangles a few feet off the ground.  A clutch of two to six eggs is incubated for 12 to 13 days.  The fledglings are ready to leave the nest in 10 to 12 days after hatching.  Towhees have as many of three broods per nesting season.  Female cowbirds are brood parasites that lay their eggs in towhee nests that are then incubated and fed by the towhee female as her own.

Their loud and extended song is characterized by Sibley as jink denk te-e-e-e-e and is often “transliterated” as “Drink your teeeeea.”   The husky, nasal call is a rising chewink or zhwink.  The “long, thin” flight call is a buzzing zeeeeweee.

Partners in Flight has estimated the North American population of towhees to be 28 million.  This number has fluctuated widely in the last 50 years with the result that this bird is a U.S.-Canada Stewardship Species.  The oldest known Eastern Towhee was over 12 years old.

Happy birding from the Highlands Plateau Audubon Society.  It’s August, our male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds will be going south soon.

The Highlands Plateau Audubon Society, focused on enjoying and preserving birds and their habitats, is a Chapter of the National Audubon Society and a 501(c) (3) organization.  For information on all our activities and membership, please visit highlandsaudubonsociety.org .