Birdwatching Spotted towhees scratch and always win

Published 10:22 am Tuesday, September 8, 2015

This secretive bird is often heard before it is seen. Its buzzy trill is unmistakable. The spotted towhee prefers brushy habitats with a lot of leaf littler where it can scratch and rummage through the debris. The prize for scratching is a tasty insect such as a beetle or ladybug, an invertebrate, a seed or a bit of fruit. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology describes the scratching as a “two footed backwards-scratching hop.”

The spotted towhee, along with other species of towhees, belongs in the sparrow family. It is larger than a sparrow, stockier and is quite striking in appearance. The male is black with rufous flanks. The female is similar, but is a dark brown. The spotted towhee gets its name from the white spots on its wings. Its black tail is long and sports white corners.

Spotted towhees are common year round in the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge, Pacific County and the Peninsula. They inhabit forest edges, dry thickets, brushy tangles and other places where there is plenty of leaf litter. They will live in your yard if there is a place for them to scratch and win! Bushy or shrubby borders are good habitats for towhees. If they find a home in your bushy areas, and you have bird feeders, they will visit and scratch underneath them for the fallen seeds.

The spotted towhee displays other interesting behavior besides “two footed backwards-scratching hops.” The female, for example, if disturbed at the nest, “runs away” rather than flying away. Towhees also bathe in the dew or in the fog drip from vegetation and will lie in the sunshine with their wings spread to warm up. A very interesting bird indeed!

Good places in our area to see the spotted towhee is the Tarlatt and Riekkola units of WNWR, gardens in Seaview, Leadbetter and Cape D. Look closely at the ground. If you see leaves flying in the air or being tossed about, it probably means that a spotted Towhee scratching to win a tasty morsel!