Spotted towhee

The spotted towhee (Pipilo maculatus) is a large New World sparrow. The taxonomy of the towhees has been debated in recent decades, and until 1995 this bird and the eastern towhee were considered a single species, then named rufous-sided towhee.<ref name="r9" /> Another outdated name for the spotted towhee is the Oregon towhee (particularly for the subspecies Pipilo maculatus oregonus). The call may be harsher and more varied than for the eastern towhee.

Description

Female in Sacramento, California.

The spotted towhee is a large New World sparrow, roughly the same size as a gray catbird. It has a long, dark, fan-shaped tail with white corners on the end. It has a round body (similar to New World sparrows) with bright red eyes and dull pink legs. The spotted towhee is between Template:Convert and Template:Convert long, and weighs in at between Template:Convert and Template:Convert.<ref name="r10"/> It has a wingspan of Template:Convert.<ref name="r10"/>

Adult males have a generally darker head, upper body and tail with a white belly, rufous sides, white spots on their back and white wing bars. Females look similar but are dark brown and grey instead of black. The spotted towhee has white spots on its primary and secondary feathers; the eastern towhee is the same in terms of its size and structure but does not have white spots,<ref name="r10"/> though does have a white base on the primary feathers, absent in spotted towhee.<ref name="Sibley"/>

Distribution and habitat

The spotted towhee lives in dry upland forests,<ref name="r2" /> open forests, brushy fields, and chaparrals. It breeds across north-western North America and is present year-round in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and southern British Columbia.<ref name="r12" /> It is not found in arid climates and as a result does not reside in the Sonoran Desert, but resides in northern Arizona and the entirety of California except the southeast corner that borders Arizona. It has also been known to expand as far eastward as western Iowa and southwestern Minnesota. It also occurs in fringe wetland forests and riparian forests near the border of upland forests.<ref name="r2" /> Because the spotted towhee's habitat overlaps with areas of the United States that experience regular forest fires (Arizona, New Mexico, California), it tends to be found in unburned chaparral and avoids chaparral and forests which have been burned<ref name="r6" /><ref name="r5" /> due to lack of ground cover and minimal foraging ability. Spotted towhees will be present in an area that is recovering after a burn (less than 15 years old),<ref name="r7" /> due to excellent ground cover and ease of ground foraging from the recovering understory vegetation,<ref name="r6" /> although populations will decrease after a forest fire until the vegetation has grown back.<ref name="r8" />

Spotted towhee at Vasona Park

Its breeding habitat in the southwest is largely dependent on coastal sage scrub, as it provides cover from predators.<ref name="r4" /> It migrates to northern and northwestern United States and southwestern Canada to breed in scrubland, parks and suburban gardens.<ref name="r12" /> Northwestern birds migrate eastwards to the central plains of the United States, mostly the northwestern-central Great Plains. In other areas, some birds may move to lower elevations in the winter. Their breeding habitat is chaparral, thickets or shrubby areas across western North America. Spotted towhee hybridizes with eastern towhee where their ranges overlap in the Midwest (mainly in Nebraska, and North and South Dakota),<ref name="Sibley"/> and with collared towhee where their ranges overlap in southwestern Mexico.

Taxonomy

A total of 21 subspecies are accepted:<ref name="IOC"/> Template:Div col

• Pipilo maculatus oregonus
• Pipilo maculatus falcifer
• Pipilo maculatus megalonyx
• Pipilo maculatus clementae
• Pipilo maculatus umbraticola
• Pipilo maculatus consobrinus
• Pipilo maculatus magnirostris
• Pipilo maculatus curtatus
• Pipilo maculatus falcinellus
• Pipilo maculatus arcticus
• Pipilo maculatus montanus
• Pipilo maculatus gaigei
• Pipilo maculatus griseipygius
• Pipilo maculatus orientalis
• Pipilo maculatus maculatus
• Pipilo maculatus vulcanorum
• Pipilo maculatus oaxacae
• Pipilo maculatus chiapensis
• Pipilo maculatus repetens
• Pipilo maculatus macronyx
• Pipilo maculatus socorroensis

Individuals in the Socorro Island population P. m. socorroensis are smaller than other spotted towhees, and show distinctive gray upper-parts. That population is sometimes treated as a species, the Socorro towhee (Pipilo socorroensis).<ref name="r10"/>

• 
  p.m. megalonyx on Santa Cruz Island

Behavior

Breeding and nesting

Spotted towhees forage on the ground or in low vegetation.

They nest either on the ground or low in bushes, seldom more than Template:Convert above the ground<ref name="r1" /> and most nests are around Template:Convert above the ground.<ref name="r3" /> The location for the nests is usually found in exposed areas, but conceal the nest as it is being built.<ref name="r11"/> The female builds the nest over a period of about five days. It is bulky and sturdily made of leaves, strips of bark, twigs, forb stalks, and grasses, lined with pine needles, shredded bark, grass, and sometimes hair. It is usually Template:Convert in diameter with an inner ring of Template:Convert to Template:Convert. The nests are built so the rim is at ground level and the nest is Template:Convert deep.

At least two broods, consisting of three to five eggs, are laid per season. The egg shells are grayish or creamy-white, sometimes with a tinge of green, with reddish brown spots that can form a wreath or cap. The eggs are slightly oblong, with their dimensions being Template:Convert to Template:Convert long and Template:Convert to Template:Convert wide. The female incubates the eggs alone for 12 to 14 days; the young leave the nest at 10 to 12 days. Nests are parasitized by cowbirds.

Diet

File:Spotted towhee gets anise swallowtail caterpillar.webm

These birds forage on the ground or in low vegetation,<ref name="r9" /><ref name="r11"/> with a habit of noisily rummaging through dry leaves searching for food. During the breeding season (spring and summer) they mainly eat insects, ground dwelling beetles, spiders and other arthropods that reside in the leaf litter that is foraged by the spotted towhee. They only eat protein rich food in the breeding season, and in the fall and winter they focus on foraging for acorns, seeds, oats, and berries.<ref name="r11"/> They will frequent bird feeders if present in their woodland habitat.

Threats

Their main predators in less developed areas are ground dwelling snakes because nests are built on the ground. There is a strong relationship between the number of snakes that a nest encounters and the lowered probability of young chicks fledgling.<ref name="r4" /> In developed areas and habitat near urban development their main predators are household cats.<ref name="r11"/>

External links

• Spotted towhee species account – Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Spotted towhee – Pipilo maculatus – USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
• Template:InternetBirdCollection
• Template:VIREO
• Template:IUCN Map