For years, one of the usual suspects in our yard was an eastern towhee. They’re although really nice birds… They look like a robin going out for a formal night out - black and orange and white. And they have one of the few bird calls – “Drink your tea…drink your tea” – that I know automatically.
But for the last two years. I haven’t seen nor heard one in our yard. They’re one of the brushy birds that are in decline in the state _ they like to scratch in leaf cover for food.. I just accepted that they’d vacated the premises.
But on Sunday, I heard a towhee singing in the brushy meadow across the road from my house. On Monday, I saw one singing from the top of the forsythia bushes . The towhees are back. I am happy.