Is it a rufous-sided towhee or an eastern towhee?

If you examine the maps in bird books, you’ll notice that many species of birds appear only in the eastern or western United States. This is because the country was divided in half by sheets of ice during the last Ice Age, and some species of birds evolved differently on each side. At one time, the maps in bird books showed the rufous-sided towhee from coast to coast.

Then, about 30 years ago, ornithologists determined that they were actually 2 similar species: the eastern towhee in the eastern US and the spotted towhee in the western US. You’ll typically see eastern towhees foraging for insects and seeds in low shrubs or on the ground, even during the winter. Females look similar to males but they have chocolate brown feathers where the males have black feathers.