Tag Archives: ID Tips

Eastern Towhee vs. Spotted Towhee

The Eastern Towhee and the Spotted Towhee are two extremely similar looking birds both native to the United States. While at a quick glance they may seem difficult to distinguish from one another, there are actually a few simple ways to tell them apart.

Fun Fact: The Eastern Towhee and the Spotted Towhee used to be lumped together as a single species called the Rufous-sided Towhee. To learn more about the Eastern Towhee check out this article.

Range

While range can’t always be used to correctly determine between Eastern and Spotted Towhees, much of the time it can be. These species have ranges that typically don’t overlap, but both have been known to end up in places they aren’t normally found in.

The Eastern Towhee resides in the Eastern United States, living year round in the Southeastern states such as Florida and Georgia. During summer, many of them migrate north ending up in places like New York, Southeastern Canada, and Michigan.

Click here to see a video of Badgerland Birding searching for an Eastern Towhee in its normal range.

Eastern Towhee Range Map by sdakotabirds.com

The Spotted Towhee is a bird of the Western United States and Mexico. They winter in the south-central U.S. in states such as Texas and Oklahoma and move into the Northwestern states and Southwestern Canada to breed. Many Spotted Towhees live in Western states such as California and Oregon year round.

Click here to see a video of Badgerland Birding finding a Spotted Towhee outside of its normal range.

Spotted Towhee Range Map by sdakotabirds.com

Most of the time, range is going to be a significant factor determining which of these two species is in the area, but they do sometimes cross over to the opposite side of the country, making location a fairly reliable, but not iron clad way of telling the Spotted and Eastern Towhee apart.

Coloration

Male Eastern and Spotted Towhees both look very much alike. Both have a black back, black head, white underside, and rufous color on their sides. However, there is one major diagnostic difference; the Spotted Towhee lives up to it’s name and has white spots on its back and wings. The Eastern Towhee does have white markings on it’s back and wings but not nearly to the same degree as the Spotted Towhee.

The females of these two species look fairly different. The female Eastern Towhee has brown on its back, wings, and head, with the same rufous sides and white underside as the male. The female Spotted Towhee looks just like the male Spotted Towhee complete with white markings on the wings and back, but has more of a charcoal gray color, making it look quite different from the female Eastern Towhee.

Eastern Towhee vs. Spotted Towhee
Eastern Towhee vs. Spotted Towhee

Song

The Eastern and the Spotted Towhee have very similar calls. but with subtle differences. The Eastern Towhee sounds something akin to “drink your tea” with the first note being sharp and the rest of the call being a trill. They also make other sounds as well including a “chew-wee” or”tow-hee” call.

Eastern Towhee Call

The Spotted Towhee’s call is a lot like that of the Eastern Towhee but it can have several sharp notes before a more accentuated and somewhat faster sounding trill.

Spotted Towhee Call

Eastern Towhee summary

An adult Eastern Towhee will have the following characteristics that can be used to separate them from Spotted Towhees:

Range in the Eastern half of the United States

A mostly black back and wings with some white markings but no true “spots”

Overall brown color on the head, back, and wings of the female

A song that sounds like “drink your tea,”

Eastern Towhee
Eastern Towhee side profile

Spotted Towhee summary

An adult Sotted Towhee will have the following characteristics that can be used to separate it from an Eastern Towhee:

Range in the Western half of the United States

A black back and wings with numerous white spots

Gray color on wings, back, and head of female that looks otherwise the same as the male

A song that sounds faster and more buzzy than the Eastern Towhee with more notes at the beginning of the call

Eastern Towhee x Spotted Towhee hybrid

It’s worth noting that these two species do hybridize and can often create offspring that confuse birders. Hybrid Eastern and Spotted Towhees can be identified by the markings on the back and wings. They will have a combination of white lines, blotches, and spots. To see what one of these hybrid birds looks like you can click here.

Conclusion

At first, the Eastern Towhee and the Spotted Towhee look like very similar species. However, with a bit of knowledge on how to distinguish them, it can be a lot easier to make a positive identification.

Loggerhead Shrike vs Northern Shrike

Shrikes are incredibly fascinating birds. While they may look cute, they are actually quite fierce and use their sharp, hooked bills to catch and tear apart prey. 

In North America there are two species of shrikes; the Loggerhead and the Northern. At first glance these two species look remarkably similar, but when taking into account a few ID features, it becomes significantly easier to distinguish one from the other.

Range

One of the first things to keep in mind about these two species is that they each have a different range. The Loggerhead Shrike inhabits most of the southern U.S. and Mexico throughout most of the year. Some of them migrate north during the breeding months and can go as far north as Canada.

As its name suggests, the Northern Shrike spends most of its time in the Northern parts of the continent. They summer in Canada and Alaska, coming down into the lower 48 states during winter. 

Due to their ranges, it can be possible to determine which species is most likely based on location, but in many instances both species may be around as their ranges overlap in certain parts of the year.

Bill

Bill is one of the physical features that can be used to tell these two species apart with some reliability. Loggerhead Shrikes typically have a completely black bill, while Northern Shrikes typically have lighter colors at the base of the bill. Others have also stated that Northern Shrikes have a larger bill than Loggerhead Shrikes but this may be subjective.

Loggerhead Shrike
Northern Shrike
Northern Shrike

Note the completely dark bill of the Loggerhead shrike above compared to the light lower mandible of the Northern Shrike.

Mask

The black mask covering the eyes of these two species is one of the most useful things to look at when trying to discern which species you are looking at. The Loggerhead Shrike has a thick mask that goes from the base of the bill to well past the eye. Northern Shrikes also have a black mask but it is noticeably thinner than that of the Loggerhead. This thin mask of the Northern Shrike shows white above the eye that is either lesser or non existent in Loggerhead Shrikes

Loggerhead Shrike
Northern Shrike – Photo by Lorri Howski

Note the thick black mask, clean white underside, and overall darker appearance of the Loggerhead Shrike above compared to the thin mask, barred chest, and overall frostier appearance of the Northern Shrike below.

Chest

At first glance these two species may look to have the same colors on their chest, they are actually noticeably different when taking a closer look. The Loggerhead Shrike is known to have a clean white chest and underside with the exception of the juveniles which show more barring. The Northern Shrike however, shows faint gray or brown barring as adults. This barring on the chest can be a key feature to look for in the field when needing to make a quick ID.

Overall

The general appearance of the Loggerhead Shrike will be darker with cleaner looking features while the Northern Shrike appears lighter and more frosty 

Loggerhead Shrike vs Northern Shrike
Loggerhead Shrike vs Northern Shrike

While these two species are certainly very similar in appearance, when taking all of the ID features into account, it becomes significantly easier to make a positive ID.

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Common Redpoll vs. Hoary Redpoll

Each winter, the search for food drives birds from the north woods into areas south of their summer range. This winter migration brings many new species within view of birders who eagerly search them out. One such species that makes this journey is the Common Redpoll. Common Redpolls are small, colorful finches that eat seeds and often show up at bird feeders.

While Common Redpolls can be scarce in certain years, another Redpoll species is even harder to find: The Hoary Redpoll. Hoary Redpolls look incredibly similar to Common Redpolls and they often flock together. In fact, they look so much alike that there has been talk about lumping them together into one species. For now, however, the two remain separate, and some key identification features can help to tell them apart.

Bill

While both birds have very small, triangular-shaped bills, the bill of the Common Redpoll is slightly larger. Hoary Redpolls will have a shorter bill than a Common Redpoll that will appear stubbier and more pushed in.

Streaking

One of the most notable differences between the two species is the streaking on the  chest. Common Redpolls have chest streaking that is more defined than in Hoary Redpolls. They also have bold streaking on the flanks, along with streaking on the rump and undertail coverts, which is either absent or subtle in Hoary Redpolls. Note the differences in the photos below with the heavy streaking on the Common Redpoll (Top Left and Top Right) vs. the Hoary Redpoll’s lack of streaking (Bottom Left and Bottom Right).

 

Crown and Chest

Another distinguishing characteristic of Redpolls are their red coloring on the crown and chest. Both Common and Hoary Redpolls display bright red crowns, however the Hoary Redpoll’s crown is smaller and primarily at the front of the head, whereas the Common’s crown will extend back further. Additionally, the male Common Redpolls will have more red on their chest compared to the male Hoary Redpoll, which may have only washed out red coloration on the chest, or almost no red.

Overall Appearance

All in all, the Common Redpoll has a body coloration ranging from tan to brown, compared to the “frosted” and muted browns seen in Hoary Redpolls. The red on the breast of the males is typically more apparent in Common Redpolls, as is the red on the crown. When compared with Common Redpolls, Hoary Redpolls sometimes look like they are in black and white other than their darker red crown.

With winter approaching, these birds will start to pop up in local parks and bird feeders. Finding a Hoary Redpoll in a flock of Commons can prove a difficult task to the untrained birder. Hopefully these ID tips can help you differentiate between the two species.

Haory Redpoll photos by Ryan Brady

 

Blue Grosbeak vs. Indigo Bunting

With summer upon us, some of the brightest colored birds in North America are nesting all across the country including the Midwest. Two of these birds that can be somewhat difficult to tell apart without knowing the field markings are the Blue Grosbeak and the Indigo Bunting. Both of these species are bright blue, frequently overlap in geographic range, and can be found around the same habitat. This means birders are likely to encounter both at some point. The good news is that there are some surefire ways to differentiate the two.

Indigo Buntin
Indigo Bunting

Size

As far as size is concerned, there is a discernible difference between a Blue Grosbeak and an Indigo Bunting. Blue Grosbeaks typically range between 15 and 16 cm while Indigo Buntings are between 12 and 13 cm. This means that in theory, an Indigo Bunting should never be as large as even a relatively small Blue Grosbeak. While it is hard to tell size on a single bird by itself, a side by side comparison shows this difference distinctly.

Blue Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak

Range

The range of these two species differs slightly with much of it overlapping.

Blue Grosbeaks general range is as far south as Central America during the winter months and as far north as North Dakota in summer. They span from the west coast to the east coast and can be found readily in the southern states. While the Blue Grosbeak is widespread in the United States, their basic range does not typically go north of Colorado and Indiana with only a few individuals spotted annually during summer in states like Wisconsin. They do however appear farther north in the central part of the United States as they also summer in Oklahoma and the Dakotas.

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Blue Grosbeak Range

Much like the Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Buntings winter as far south as Central America. This bright blue bird also inhabits most of the southern United States with the exception of parts of Arizona and Texas. It is also notable to note that the Indigo Buntings range seems to skip over western Mexico. Unlike Blue Grosbeaks, Indigo Buntings make their way much farther north in summer as they are found in every state east of Montana and even southern parts of Canada.

Indigo Bunting Range
Indigo Bunting Range

Bill

Bill size is a solid way to differentiate between these two species. The indigo Bunting has a relatively small, conical bill while the Blue Grosbeak has a comparatively larger bill. In addition, The Indigo Bunting has a completely one colored gray/silver bill. The Blue Grosbeak often sports a two colored bill with a darker gray on the upper mandible and lighter gray on the bottom mandible.

Blue Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak

Field Markings

Though both of these birds are a very similar shade of blue, there are some differences in pattern and coloration that go a long way in identification.

The Blue Grosbeak has a small black mask near the base of the bill going over the eye that the Indigo Bunting lacks. They also have very distinctive rusty wing bars that serve as an extremely reliable field marking. Female Blue Grosbeaks lack the deep blue of the males (instead they are a dark tan/light brown color) but still have the same rust colored wing bars.

Indigo Buntings are almost entirely blue with some of their only other coloring being a varied gray to black on their wings. They do have a very small amount of black near the base of the bill but not nearly to the degree that the Blue Grosbeak does. Females are a lighter shade of tan than the Blue Grosbeak and lack the wing bars of the Blue Grosbeak females.

Indigo Buntings
Indigo Bunting

These two species often co-exist in the same habitat and overlap readily in the United States and Mexico. Even in ranges where only one of these species would be expected. It is good to know the ways to tell them apart just in case.

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