Abert's Towhee has been one of my nemesis birds for a while–birds that are fairly common but elude me or my camera. After looking in a number of locations, I decided to try looking at the Salton Sea State Park, near the northeast corner of the Salton Sea. I quickly found them, and on my second visit obtained a number of reasonably good photos. They seem a bit shyer than the similar-looking California Towhee, but will occassionally come up for a look around.
The Abert's Towhee can be distinguished from the California Towhee by its geographic range in the California and Arizona deserts, as well the the black marking on its face.