Many thanks to Cynthia, Mike, and David for your observations on  
towhees.

Today (October 13) there was no indication of the Eastern Towhee  
female here in Norwich village where present yesterday.

The Eastern Towhee as a whole has declined sharply in numbers in the  
northeastern U.S.A. in recent decades as reported by John Hagen in a  
1993 article (in Auk, volume 110, pages 863-874; article obtainable  
for free on line through Google searching under "towhee decline"). As  
discussed by John Hagen, natural changes in vegetation have tended to  
replace early successional stages with more mature woodland, and those  
changes have been unfavorable for Eastern Towhees.

In recent years in the Upper Valley there have been a relatively small  
number of known sites for finding Eastern Towhees in the nesting  
season, and a few such sites where towhees have been regularly found  
are listed in the recent second edition of the Connecticut River  
Birding Trail map for the Upper Valley. Examples from the map are the  
powerline area of Boston Lot in Lebanon, NH, and in the vicinity of  
the overgrown orchard on the prison property along Marton Road in  
Windsor, VT.  In the Upper Valley in general, the species appears to  
be spottily distributed as a breeder but seemingly might occur almost  
anywhere during migration.

Murin and Pfeiffer in their 2002 book "Birdwatching in Vermont"  
indicate that the species has been found in the state throughout the  
year but is of regular occurrence only from the latter part of April  
into October. They also point out that towhees are more frequently  
found in the southern  Vermont than in the north.

I've not found towhees during the breeding season along Tigertown Road  
in Norwich,
but my time in that large area has been limited to a few hours at most.

George


George Clark
Norwich, VT 

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