Eastern Towhee - Food Habits

Food Habits

Eastern towhees primarily eat on the ground, although they also glean from vegetation. In a southeastern Massachusetts pitch pine barren, 73.5% of male and 80.4% of female foraging observations were on the ground. When foraging on the ground eastern towhees use a scratching technique where both feet kick back simultaneously. In a laboratory study 4 eastern towhees used this method to successfully obtain seed buried almost 1 inch (2.25 cm) deep. When foraging above ground the majority of time is spent gleaning foliage. In Massachusetts, 22.5% of male and 16.3% of female foraging observations were of food being gleaned from foliage. Eastern towhees were also observed gleaning from twigs, branches, and trunks. When gleaning, eastern towhees occurred significantly (p<0.01) more often on the distal half of tree branches compared to using distal and proximal portions equally. In 0.5% of male and 0.3% of female foraging observations, eastern towhees hovered. Eastern towhees were never observed catching food out of the air.

Eastern towhees eat a variety of plant and animal matter. In literature reviews, eastern towhees are reported to eat seeds and fruits, several invertebrates, and occasionally small amphibians, snakes, and lizards. Reviews report eastern towhees foraging at feeders. Reviews show that animal matter makes up a larger proportion of the diet in the breeding season. In fall and winter, plants make up 79% and 85% of the diet, respectively. This drops to 53% in spring and 43% in summer. Insects such as beetles (Coleoptera), grasshoppers and crickets (Orthoptera), ants, wasps, and bees (Hymenoptera), and moths and caterpillars (Lepidoptera) are common prey items. Eastern towhees eat other invertebrates such as spiders (Araneae), millipedes (Diplopoda), centipedes (Chilopoda), and snails (Gastropoda) to a lesser extent. Plants that comprise at least 5% of the eastern towhee diet include ragweed (Ambrosia spp.), oak, smartweed (Polygonum spp.), and corn (Zea mays) in the Northeast and blackberry, oak, panicgrass (Panicum spp.), ragweed, and wax-myrtle (Morella cerifera) in the Southeast.