Spotted Towhee

The Spotted Towhee is a big, boldly marked sparrow that spends most of its life on the ground under shrubs. You often notice it by sound first: a loud rustling in dry leaves, made as the bird hops backward with both feet at once to rake up the litter, then pounces on whatever it uncovers.

Males are handsome up close, with a black hood, red eyes, rusty sides, a white belly and white spots scattered across the black back and wings. Females follow the same pattern with brown in place of black and fewer spots.

In the nesting season towhees eat mostly insects and other small animals from the leaf litter, along with some seeds, berries and acorns, and they switch largely to plant foods in fall and winter. In spring, males sing for long stretches from a high perch to claim territory, sometimes spending most of the morning at it before they attract a mate. The female builds a cup nest on the ground or low in a shrub, and pairs often raise more than one brood a season.

Around Mt. Hood, look and listen for towhees in brushy forest edges, thickets and overgrown openings where dense shrubs keep a thick layer of fallen leaves.