Pipilo erythrophthalmus
male
The Eastern Towhee is a long-tailed bird that scratches for food among leaf litter. The sexes are dissimilar. Adult males have a black hood, upperparts, and tail, the wings with white margins to the flight feathers and white at the base of the primaries. The flanks are reddish orange, the breast and center of the belly are white, and the undertail is buff. Most birds have red eyes but in Florida birds they are yellow. Adult females are similar to an adult male but black elements of the plumage are dark brown. Juveniles are brown and streaked with two pale wingbars.
The Eastern Towhee occurs year-round in southeast North America, but farther north it is a summer visitor, present there mainly from May to September. Like other towhee species, it feeds by scratching the ground using both feet together, and flies low to the ground, with long glides and short bouts of rapid wing-flapping.
female
Cal Vornberger/Alamy Stock Photo: Eastern Towhee female.
Florida male
FACT FILE
LENGTH 7.5 in (19 cm)
FOOD Invertebrates and fallen seeds
HABITAT Brush and dense scrub
STATUS Locally common summer visitor, present year-round in the south of its range
VOICE Song is a whistling sweet-too-tee, followed by a trill. Call is a shrill tchewik
