The eastern towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus), also known as chewink, joree, or joree bird, is a large New World sparrow. The taxonomy of the towhees has been under debate in recent decades, and formerly this bird and the spotted towhee were considered a single species, the rufous-sided towhee.

Their breeding habitat is brushy areas across eastern North America. They nest either low in bushes or on the ground under shrubs. Northern birds migrate to the southern United States. There has been one record of this species as a vagrant to western Europe: a single bird in Great Britain in 1966.

The song is a short drink your teeeeea lasting around one second, starting with a sharp call ("drink!") and ending with a short trill "teeeeea". The name "towhee" is onomatopoeic description of one of the towhee's most common calls, a short two-part call rising in pitch and sometimes also called a "chewink" call. This species is now placed in the genus Pipilo that was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816. The specific name erythrophthalmus/erythrophthalma combines the Ancient Greek words ' "red" and ' "eye".

Four subspecies are recognised:

  • P. e. erythrophalmus (Linnaeus, 1758), found south-central and southeast Canada to the eastern United States
  • P. e. canaster (Howell, AH, 1913), found in the interior southeast United States
  • P. e. rileyi (Koelz, 1939), found in the coastal southeast United States except for central and southern Florida
  • P. e. alleni (Coues, 1871) found in south and central Florida

Description

The eastern towhee is a large and striking species of sparrow. The total length ranges from and the wingspan is . The body of mass of this species ranges from , with an average of . Adults have rufous sides, a white belly, and a long dark tail with white edges. The eyes are red for most populations, though populations in the southeastern U.S. have yellow eyes – often referred to as the "white-eye morph." Males have a black head, upper body, and tail; these parts are brown in the female. Juveniles are brown overall. Eastern towhees of all ages and both sexes generally are unmistakable. In the Great Plains, eastern towhees will occasionally overlap in range with their sister species, the spotted towhee, which has resulted in rare hybrids between the two species.

Distribution

The eastern towhee occurs throughout the eastern United States and southeast Canada. Occurrences from southern Saskatchewan, southwest Ontario and Quebec south to Florida, and west to eastern Texas are noted in a literature review. Populations north of southern New England through northern Indiana and Illinois to southern Iowa primarily are summer residents. The range of P. e. rileyi extends from northern Florida through southern Georgia and coastal South Carolina to east-central North Carolina. Pipilo e. alleni occurs in peninsular Florida. For example, in Maryland, eastern towhee territories along a power line right-of-way corresponded with shrubby areas containing species such as Allegheny blackberry (Rubus allegheniensis) and blueberry (Vaccinium spp.). Other species included hawthorn (Crataegus spp.), red maple (Acer rubrum), black cherry, and black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia).

Timing of major life events

thumb|Female

Arrival and departure of eastern towhees into summer breeding grounds varies with location. According to a literature review, eastern towhees typically arrive in New York in early April and leave by the middle of November. A review of eastern towhees in New Hampshire describes arrival in late April to May with the majority departing in September.

Breeding begins in spring and continues to late summer. Reports of eastern towhees nesting as early as late March in Florida and Georgia, in mid- to late April in some midwestern states, and as late as mid-May in northern New England were summarized in a literature review. A literature review reports eastern towhees up to in New Hampshire. In a laboratory study four eastern towhees used this method to successfully obtain seed buried almost deep. When foraging above ground the majority of time is spent gleaning foliage. Plants that comprise at least 5% of the eastern towhee diet include ragweed (Ambrosia spp.), oak, smartweed (Polygonum spp.), and corn (Zea mays) in the Northeast and blackberry, oak, panicgrass (Panicum spp.), ragweed, and wax-myrtle (Morella cerifera) in the Southeast. At least some mammals also feed on adult eastern towhees. In Maryland, an eastern towhee was found in the stomach contents of a red fox (Vulpes vulpes). In a study of nest parasitism on Sanibel Island, none of five eastern towhee nests found were parasitized.

  • Eastern towhee species account – Cornell Lab of Ornithology
  • Eastern towhee – Pipilo erythropthalmus – USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
  • (for United States) with range map at bird-stamps.org
  • Eastern towhee bird sound at Florida Museum of Natural History