Listen to the eastern towhee
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
About the eastern towhee
The eastern towhee is a bird in the family Passerellidae (order Passeriformes). Its conservation status on the IUCN Red List is “least concern”.
What does the eastern towhee sound like?
Most birds have two kinds of vocalisation: songs, which are learned or innate phrases delivered mainly in spring and summer, and calls – brief contact, alarm and begging notes heard all year round. Listening for both helps with identification.
The recordings here are labelled as song and call. Listen for differences in rhythm, pitch and repetition – the spectrum display makes it easy to see whether a sound is a pure whistle (a thin line), a harsh call (a broad band) or a trill (rapid repeated marks).
From Wikipedia
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. One of this species was recorded as a vagrant to western Europe, a single bird in Great Britain in 1966.
Related birds in the genus Pipilo
More from the family Passerellidae
Dark-eyed junco
Junco hyemalis
White-crowned sparrow
Zonotrichia leucophrys
White-throated sparrow
Zonotrichia albicollis
Rufous-collared sparrow
Zonotrichia capensis
American tree sparrow
Spizelloides arborea
Savannah sparrow
Passerculus sandwichensis
Fox sparrow
Passerella iliaca
Chipping sparrow
Spizella passerina
Lincoln's sparrow
Melospiza lincolnii
Tanager finch
Oreothraupis arremonops
Swamp sparrow
Melospiza georgiana
Frequently asked questions
What does an eastern towhee sound like?
You can hear 6 recordings of the eastern towhee on this page, including its song and call. Most birds have two kinds of vocalisation: songs, which are learned or innate phrases delivered mainly in spring and summer, and calls – brief contact, alarm and begging notes heard all year round.
Is the eastern towhee endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the eastern towhee as “least concern”.
What family does the eastern towhee belong to?
The eastern towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) belongs to the family Passerellidae in the order Passeriformes.
Sources & credits
- Pipilo-erythrophthalmus-001 – CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Song · Grey Cloud Dunes SNA, Washington, Minnesota, United States by Jonathon Jongsma – CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Song · Afton State Park, Washington County, Minnesota, United… by Jonathon Jongsma – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Song · Grey Cloud Dunes SNA, Washington, Minnesota, United States by Jonathon Jongsma – CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Call · Cannon River Wilderness Area, Rice, MN, United States by Jonathon Jongsma – CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Song · Murphy-Hanrehan Park Reserve, Dakota, Minnesota, United… by Jonathon Jongsma – CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q1541137 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Eastern towhee – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo by Bill Thompson of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region – CC BY 2.0