I am a longtime amateur birder and a very recent subscriber to tweeters.
One of the first interesting things that I learned from some of you is
that our towhees are to be called 'spotted' and not 'rufous sided'
towhees. I would like to know why this name change, since to me they
obviously have rufous sides, but I have yet to appreciate spots, except on
the pictures of immatures in our birdbook. Also, our birdbooks, not
ancient, still name them 'rufous.' I have always thought them to be one
of the most handsome birds, and also to be very appropriately named.

This has been "bugging" my birdbrain for two months!

Dave Heywood
Kirkland
dheywood at u.washington.edu