Day 45: However you pronounce their name, Spotted Towhees have to be one of the goofiest-looking birds in anybody's back yard. I grew up calling them "TOO-ees" (thanks to the same mother who instilled in me my pronunciation of "LITCH-en" to rhyme with "KITCH-en"); but you may call them "TAU-ees" or "TOE-ees" if you wish, and the dictionary will defend you. "TOO-ee" rhymes with "screwy," and that's what I call them: screwy towhees, doing their little hockleback scratch-kick to raise seeds from the tangled grass, their red eyes giving them a distinctive mad-as-a-March-hare look. I mean, it's serioius business being a bird, having to hunt down your food before some other opportunist grabs it, having to defend your nest against all sorts of predators, having to seek shelter against weather extremes, but Towhees just somehow seem...well, "silly" is the word which comes to mind. You won't catch me making fun of Chickadees, Jays, Sparrows, Goldfinches or any other of the birds who rely on my feeders for sustenance, but Towhees...Towhees make me laugh.
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