Spotted Towhees are hands down one of my favourite sparrows. The rusty sides, the red eyes, and their tendency to quietly hop around the forest floor make for a more interesting watch than other local sparrows.
I still remember the first time I ever saw one. It was before I really got into birding, so I didn’t know what I was looking at. All I knew was that I had never seen such a pretty bird in the local woods in all my life. I didn’t think we had anything of interest nearby, to be honest.
Finding this bird since then has been mostly luck. While there have been a few more out lately for breeding season, usually it’s the noise from them scratching around that gets my attention, which often means moving through the woods quietly.
You can typically find spotted towhees in thickets, shrublands, and wooded areas. While I live relatively close to all of that, I have yet to successfully lure one near a feeder. I really can’t blame them — I wouldn’t want to leave the woods either!
