Remember the old parental admonition "to be seen but not heard?" This ground-dwelling sparrow species turns that injunction on its head: bird-lovers will often hear the Towhee's "chewink" call but have a hard time getting visual confirmation of its presence. That's because the Towhee generally abides in dense brush, employing a unique two-footed kicking technique to forage through the dirt. The Towhee's diet consists mostly of seeds and small insects. The two-footed digging trick can unearth seeds and invertebrates buried as deep as an inch beneath the surface!
Unfortunately, there is a dark side to the Towhee's predilection for
terra firma. The bird's altitudinally-challenged nests are highly vulnerable to predation by lizards, mammals, and owls. While adult Towhee's have been found to live up to 12 years in the wild, the species has a relatively low level of nest success.
