The Spotted Towhee is a a common sight here in the Arizona chaparral. In spring and summer I often see them perch high in trees singing up a storm. Audubon says this is the male defending his nesting territory.
Apparently, they have several different calls. (Listen at this same Audubon website.) The one that catches my attention in spring and summer is a chip-chip-chip-buzzz call. The number of chips varies from two to four, and I've always wondered if it means something different in bird-speak, or if these are different call-signs of different birds.
My sister, Kris August, gave me a fascinating audiobook on bird language a few years ago. It's by the wilderness skills instructor and tracker, Jon Young. He talked a lot about towhees, which at the time I didn't know from chickadees or flickers or much of anything else for that matter. In this short video Young describes how paying attention to a towhee's behavior clued him in that he was being followed.
Females and males have very similar color patterns, but the female has a grayer head, where the male's head is black. Both of these photos are probably of male birds.
I enjoy spotting spotted towhees even in winter, but they're much quieter and shyer, down in the dirt scritching through fallen leaves for insects. By the time I raise my camera, they've generally flitted away. So these pictures are from summer and fall.
