Persistent scratching sounds amid thick shrubbery and a shrill call, “towhee!” reveal the presence of this striking New World sparrow. The dapper Eastern Towhee and its western relative, the Spotted Towhee, were once considered one species — the Rufous-sided Towhee — but were split into distinct species in 1995. The two species sometimes hybridize in the Great Plains, where their ranges meet.