Louise,

It sounds to me as though you are seeing the Immature Rufous-sided
(Spotted) Towhee. While working on a MAPS banding site at Ft Lewis last
week, we caught one which showed very little "rufous" coloration. The
white spots on the tail should still be a give-away. Good description.

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, WA
anderjda at dfw.wa.gov


On Tue, 1 Aug 1995, Louise Parker wrote:

> Here's my question. I have been watching a group of birds (maybe a dozen,
> though I rarely see more than 2 or 3 at a time) in my backyard for the last
> month or so. They are the same size as rufous-sided towhees, but have dark
> eyes and are mostly brown in color-- some mottling on the breast and some
> seem to have a slightly lighter patch in the center of the breast. Their
> tails are black with the same white markings as rufous-sided, and the heads
> are darker too (though not as black as those of the rufous-sided). Their
> behavior is also like the RS (sorry, don't know the official code!), mostly
> scratching around on the ground but occasionally getting up on the feeder to
> eat.

> Thanks for your patience with my beginner descriptions--

No problem, you described these birds very well. Remember we are (pretty
much) ALL amateurs, and we all started out that way...