Thursday April 18, 2024: 63 new birds of 15 species, 11 recaps. New species: Sharp-shinned Hawk, Tufted Titmouse, Brown Thrasher, White-throated Sparrow, American Goldfinch, and Eastern Towhee. We are at 20 species for the season. Bird of the day was Ruby-crowned Kinglet with 20 new bands, followed by Brown Creeper with eight.
We can’t say that it’s ever really been dry up here yet this spring, but the worst spots on our trails were merely soggy and you could at least wear regular hiking boots if you walked carefully. That all changed last night, when we received more than a half inch or rain. Our trails were completely flooded, and instead of hiking boots we joked that we all needed hip waders or maybe even kayaks.
Despite the wet trails, we had a good day with the birds. One of the new birds for the season was this gorgeous Eastern Towhee. This bird used to be called “Rufous-sided Towhee” (and you can see why!), but in 1989 the Rufous-sided Towhee was split into two species – the Eastern Towhee and the Spotted Towhee. Their summer ranges overlap a bit in the center of the continent and hybrids have been reported, and they may mix a bit more in the winter, but for the most part they occupy separate halves of the US and southern Canada. Most of our Eastern Towhees have dramatic cabernet-red eyes, but the birds of southern Florida have pale yellowish white eyes that look really striking against the black feathers of the head. We don’t catch many towhees and in some years we miss them altogether, so we were excited to see one today!
Many thanks to our fantastic Thursday crew of Allen, Gayle, Lyss, Megan, Ellie, Jane, Tom, and Jeanne.
— Andrea Patterson
Braddock Bay Bird Observatory 
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