Bird Nerd adds to life list!!!!!!!!!

 Guess what I saw in my in-laws back yard yesterday?  Go on and guess............................... an Eastern Towhee!!!  He was so cool!  What a beautiful bird, and it's one for my life list!!  Today I went back for a second look and saw the female also. 

 How come some books call it Eastern Towhee and others call it Rufous-sided Towhee?  Are they the same bird.  Is it a geographical thing.  I am in coastal Virginia, by the way.

 They are the same bird.  When I started birding 20 years ago they were OFFICIALLY called the Rufous-Sided Towhee.  A couple of years later several birds had their official name changed.  The Rufous-Sided Towhee became the Eastern Towhee.  The Solitary Vireo became the Blue-Headed Vireo, and the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak became the Red-Breasted Grosbeak and EVERYBODY SCREAMED FOUL!!!! so they changed it back to the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak. 

 The Spotted Towhee is SLIGHTLY different from the Eastern Towhee.  It has more white wing spots and is found in the Western U.S., not in the East, to my knowledge.  Other than that, they are pretty much the SAME bird in my opinion.

I have several pairs of Eastern Towhees around my house.  I hear them more than see them, but I have gotten a FEW pictures of them.

 Interesting.....thanks..... it sounds like the whole "is Pluto a planet or not" thing when it comes to ornithologists determining whether certain birds are the same species or not.  hehe

I wonder if they ever start fist-fights over it......LMAO......BIRD NERDS GONE WILD!!!!!

By the way, this is off the towhee subject, but there were 8 male goldfinches in my flowers today!!  What a gorgeous sight!!!

 Of COURSE Pluto is a planetoid.

 I am also avidly interested in Astronomy and have been a member of a forum called Galaxy Zoo since its inception two years ago.  At the Zoo (we are called zooites) we catalog and research galaxies and other deep-space objects.  The Astronomers are at Oxford in London, but the images are supplied by the Sloan Digital Space Survey (SDSS) in New Mexico.  One of the Astronomers is Brian May, who was the lead guitar player for the rock group Queen, but has since gone on to get his PhD in Physicsa and Astronomy.  He is NOW Dr, Brian May.  We are now researching a new class of Deep space objects called, "Voorwerps".  These items were first discovered by a 24 year old female Dutch Teacher/Rock musician, named Hannie van Arkel.  These are essential FOSSILIZED light left over from Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei.  She is a moderator on the forum there and is a good friend of mine.  We talk about music all the time.  Check the Site out.  Many of the members in the U.K. are birders, too.  The site is:

galaxyzoo.com

And it's free, too!