andyvhuynh's Identifications

1-3 California Towhees come by every day to drink and bathe in the backyard Pyrex dish bird bath. The water is changed twice a day and the local birds really enjoy it.

California Towhee (Melozone crissalis) is a perching bird in the Ground-Sparrows and Brown Towhees (Melozone) genus. There is little sexual dimorphism. Both sexes of California Towhee are 8.3-9.8 inches (21–25 cm) in length. Coloring is dull gray-brown overall with a light rust coloring under the tail and buff or rust-colored streaks at the throat. They have short, rounded wings like a sparrow, as well as a long tail and thick beak which is used for cracking seeds, but are they are larger and bulkier than sparrows.
Feeding Behavior: Forages mostly on the ground, sometimes scratching among the leaf-litter. Often comes to bird-feeders, but may do much of its foraging on the ground under the feeding tray.
Diet: Mostly seeds and insects. Majority of diet, especially in winter, consists of seeds of weeds and grasses. Also eats insects (including caterpillars and beetles), especially in summer, and eats some berries and small fruits. Young are fed insects.
Backyard Tips: You can encourage California Towhees to come out in the open in your backyard by offering seed (including millet, which is unpopular with many other backyard birds). Towhees are ground foragers, so spreading seed on the ground or in trays Is more likely to attract them than hanging feeders.
Nesting: Towhees often mate for life, and pairs may remain together on breeding territory all year. Male is very aggressive in defending this territory, actively attacking intruding males or even his own reflection. Nest site is usually in a dense shrub or low tree, typically 4-12' above the ground, but may be very low (sometimes on the ground) or up to 30' or higher. Nest is a bulky open cup, rather loosely made of twigs, grass, weeds, strips of bark, and is lined with finer grass, rootlets, and animal fur.

Audubon Guide to North American Birds https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/california-towhee

E Bird https://ebird.org/explore and https://ebird.org/species/caltow/

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 7th ed., 2017. pp. 490-491.

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 2008, pp. 354-355.

Monterey Birds, Don Roberson, 2nd ed. 2002, sponsored by Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society, p. 421.

Sample sound recording of the California Towhee
Sharing wildlife sounds from around the world https://xeno-canto.org/explore?query=Melozone%20crissalis

Merlin Bird ID (great app available for Iphones) by The Cornell Lab (Bird ID help for 8,500+ species) https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/

The Cornell Lab (Birds in U.S. and Canada) https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/ (enter common name) and https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/California_Towhee

Comprehensive Feather I.D. tools and more: https://foundfeathers.org/resources/

Found Feathers (Worldwide): https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/idtool.php