Stranger in my garden.

This evening I discovered a stranger in my garden.

This bird was busily feeding. I was able to get a couple pictures but not really clear ones. I am guessing this is a fledgling robin. What do you think?

The bill is wrong for Robin and they have a lot more streaks on their breast. My guess would be an Eastern Towhee, male, but this is looking at pictures I found in a search. I cannot see enough of the breast on your pictures to be sure. Was there white going down the center?

Was there white going down the center?

I did not notice. Think it is still around, will try to observe better today.

Am not familiar with the name "eastern towhee", let alone the bird. Do we have them in SC?

Yes, they are in South Carolina. I checked the range map before answering your question.
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Eastern_Towhee/id

That is a neat bird to have. We've only seen them once while on a birding club trip, they have yet to be seen in our yard.

I hope I can photo it more clearly.

The photos of the towhee show a bird that is much more brilliant than mine.

I hope you are correct, would be neat to provide a habitat that encourages such a beauty.

This message was edited May 24, 2012 2:02 PM

Ah, I didn't mention that it looks like a juvenile. You mentioned fledgling in your original post and I had that in my head, but didn't type it. If you scroll down a little on the link I gave you, there is a picture of a immature, male Eastern Towhee. Yours looks older than a fledgling, but it is still young. Sorry about that.

I hope someone confirms this because I feel so uncertain with my ID skills, especially if they are not those who frequent our yard very often. Most often I can tell the Meadowlarks apart by song and if I can get a good look at certain field markings, but get me out of my "comfort zone" and I just fall to pieces.

Ditto to Eastern Towhee, juvenile.

Resin