eastern towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) Pipilo erythrophthalmus
English: A male eastern towhee at Quabbin Reservoir, Massachusetts, USA.
Date 14 May 2011, 08:46
Source Photo of the Week - Male eastern towhee at the Quabbin Reservoir (MA)
Author Bill Thompson of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pipilo_erythrophthalmus_-Quabbin_Reservoir,_Massachusetts,_USA_-male-8.jpg
The eastern towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) 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. Eastern towhees nest either low in bushes or on the ground under shrubs. Northern birds migrate to the southern United States.
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Emberizidae
Genus: Pipilo
Species: Pipilo erythrophthalmus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Synonyms; Fringilla erythrophthalma (protonym)