Maybe an Eastern Towhee.

That's HIM! Yes! Huge score!

Bob, thank you!

Dax

Readers Digest Book of North American Birds;
ISBN 0895773511; 1990.

A Fufous-sided Towhee: Pipilo erythrophthalmus:

"Scratching about with one foot at a time, like barnyard poultry, rufous-sided towhees gather their food from the very bosom of the earth. It is little wonder, then, that these active birds used to be called ground robins, especially since their well-hidden nests of stems and leaves are nestled so close to the ground.

Today they are named towhees because that is the sound most people hear in their song. But they were once known as chewinks, from the call they make when alarmed. In some parts of the West that call is phonetically transcribed as shrenk, while in others it sounds more like the meowing of catbirds. In sections of the Southeast they unquestionably call Louise! And although their song is translated into English in most parts of the country as "chip towhee" or "drink your tea," the birds seem to drawl it in the South, and are apt to sing chip chup chup zeeeeeee, or just a buzzy zeeeeee, in the West.

Their visual field marks too are almost as varied as their vocal ones. Rusous-sided towhees in Florida have white eyes instead of red ones, and those in the West have two white wing bars plus numerous white spots on their wings and backs. But no matter where they live, all rufous-sided towhees come flying in low to the ground with the side patches in their tails looking like white chiffon streamers trailing dramatically behind them."

The first sentence of that description makes me wonder if I'm seeing things or misinterpreting what I see. The California Towhees and Spotted Towhees that I watch seem to scratch with both feet at the same time. I call it the 'Towhee Shuffle'. It's hard for me to describe but their whole body goes back and forth - different from any other bird that I watch. I just found this video of a Spotted Towhee doing the 'Towhee Shuffle

Huh?? I don't know because I saw that particular bird fly in about 20 feet from my window and when I went to get my camera he was under my window so I was photographing blindly for the most part.

Sure doesn't make much sense after viewing that youtube video, but I didn't get a chance to see what was going on either, at least not here anyway.

Dax

I love my Towhees!! Congrats to you Dax! The females are such a pretty Chocolately brown color. I love to hear them calling TOW-HEE..TOW-HEE!! Mine scracth with both feet too Bob.~~Angie

Here is a link that might be useful: Towhee calls

Dax, I was talking about the first sentence from the description in the Reader's Digest Book, 'Scratching about with one foot at a time,- - '. I'm sure your bird was a Towhee and hope you start seeing more of them. They're a lot of fun to watch. Very interesting birds.

Another site says, "scratching at leaves using both feet at the same time, in a kind of backwards hop"

That's what the Abert's and canyon towhees do ... a 2-footed duff-kicking hop.

Not to shabby. Had a few little guys talking to my cat mainly just moments ago, and they sounded like 'little machine guns' like a rolling drum but exactly the sound of a machine gun. I could see them, I guessed them to be Carolina wrens, but I don't believe that to be the case. They were the size of Carolina wrens but I didn't see any yellow. Could you guys be of help? My cat was laying on the ground (she is calm and liking toward birds thanks to me, I raised her that way) and the little birds were just chirping a drum to beat heck.

Thanks, Best Regards,

Dax