Bird Illustrations

Perching Birds

About spotted towhees:
Spotted towhees were once grouped with eastern towhees as one species, the rufous-sided towhee. They are about seven inches long. BirdWeb (Seattle Audubon Society) describes the spotted towhee's foraging behavior as follows: "the Spotted Towhee uses a two-footed scratching method, kicking both feet backward at the same time to locate food under the litter." Towhees eat seeds and insects.

Taxonomy:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata (having a spinal chord)
Class: Aves (birds)
Order: Passeriformes (perching birds)
Family: Emberizidae (American sparrows and others with distinctive shape of beak)
Genus: Pipilo
Species: P. maculatus

More information about spotted towhees:
Wikipedia: Spotted Towhee