Douglas, if you have Rufous sided towhees, every Tweeter will be at your
place, many to get a life bird. Our Western form is now called the
Spotted towhee (sorry, don't have birdbook with scientific name noted in
my office). The Rufous-sided towhee is the eastern USA species, and
overlap of two species is not well documented in the midwest. The songs
are really quite different and the spots on our species distinctive.

I have noticed a curious disappearance of Spotted towhees at Des Moines
Beach Park and surrounding neighborhoods for the past few weeks. All last
year, and earlier this season, I saw them on almost every monitoring walk.
Perhaps a population shift due to recent severe weather.

Maureen Ellis me2 at u.washington.edu Univ of WA and Des Moines, WA
*****************hope your cold is better soon*****************
On Mon, 7 Apr 1997, D. Daily wrote:

>
> GOAL: my shrubs and trees are finally growing in quite well after all the
> construction next to us. I'm hoping our yard will be 'fuzzy' enough
> to bring back RUFOUS SIDED TOWHEES which used to be common visitors to
> the yard.
>
> Yesterday, Sunday, sitting on the porch, we were innundated by
> many many forms of ladybugs, everywhere. Practically magical.
>
>
> Douglas F. Daily
> ddaily at u.washington.edu
> University of Washington
> Nursing Payroll, Box 356153
> Seattle WA 98195
>
>
>