A male spotted towhee has a black head, back and tail with a white belly, orange-red sides and multiple white wing marks. “I think that the first thing people notice is their sides,” David ...

In fact, for a time, it was appropriately known as the “red-eyed towhee,” before the taxonomists split it into our western “spotted towhee” and its close relative the “eastern towhee.” ...

a battered Red Sox cap on his head and a pair of binoculars dangling from his neck, when he stopped suddenly and pointed to the distance. “There’s an Eastern towhee calling its name,” he ...

The rufous-sided towhee, with its striking plumage, is a somewhat secretive member of the finch family that flits from beneath vegetation to visit feeders or scratch around in garden litter.

“Erythro” is the Greek word for “red,” and “phthalm” is the Greek word for “the eye.” Put them all together and we learn that the eastern towhee is also known as the “red-eyed ...

A rusty red-orange patch beneath the tail is just about the only divergence from the towhee’s uniform of brown. (Photo by Becky Matsubara) Even their plain plumage suggests the steady nature of ...