We didn’t have a clue what this bird was when Tim photographed it at the arboretum, but for some reason I can’t explain the name “towhee” briefly crossed my mind (and then promptly passed out of it). I got my area bird book out at home and thought I’d have to go through the whole thing searching for a bird that looks like this, when the very first page had a picture of the Eastern Towhee. Mystery solved!

Yellow in a sea of pink, posted earlier: