Bird of the Month: Spotted Towhee
Written by Andy McCormick
Andy McCormick, Volunteer and Former Board President of Eastside Audubon
The Spotted Towhee rustles through leaf litter, attracting the notice of people who can be surprised when they learn that it is a bird making all that racket.
Spotted Towhee
Scientific Name: Pipilo maculatus
Length: 8.5”
Wingspan: 10.5”
Weight: 1.4 oz (40 g)
AOU Alpha Code: SPTO
FAMILIAR IN BRUSH, WOODLANDS, AND GARDENS
The Spotted Towhee breeds in a variety of habitats where there is broadleaf shrubby growth that shades the underlying earth. Towhees forage on the ground, scratching with both feet at the same time. Taking a short jump forward, the towhee scratches backward in a repetitive fashion, gleaning insects such as beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and arthropods such as millipedes and spiders (Bartos Smith and Greenlaw).
Towhees are large sparrows with long, rounded tails. They are grouped in the genus Pipilo, from the Latin for chirp, cheep, peep, or twitter. The Spotted’s species epithet is maculatus, from Latin for spotted, referring to the white spots in the bird’s wings (Holloway). In 1995, the American Ornithological Union split the Spotted Towhee from the Eastern Towhee (P. erythropthalmus).
STRIKING RED-EYED TOWHEE
Long-time birders will remember that prior to this split the Spotted and Eastern “red-eyed towhees” were together known as the Rufous-sided Towhee. The red eyes of these two species are strikingly offset by the dark hoods and are the subjects of countless photographs. The red eyes also separate these two species from most of the other towhees.
The male and female Spotted Towhees are similarly marked but have color differences. The color of the male hood, wings, back, and tail are black to dark gray. The female is brown toned. Both sexes have rufous sides extending to the undertail coverts. The Spotted Towhee is accented with white spots on the wings and upper back. The Pacific Northwest subspecies (P. m. oregonus) is darker overall than the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains groups. Both the Spotted and Eastern Towhees have white tips on the outer tail feathers. However, those on the Spotted are smaller than those on the Eastern.
NESTS IN THE BRUSH
The Spotted Towhee builds an open cup nest on the ground or in a low shrub. Usually 3-4 light colored eggs with brown spots are deposited. Incubation lasts less than two weeks and both parents feed the nestlings. The young leave the nest in another 10-14 days but stay with the parents for a while longer (Kaufman). The first molt into a streaky brown juvenile plumage occurs in the first two weeks in the nest (Bartos Smith and Greenlaw).
Spotted Towhees will often be heard calling a raspy trill or soft mewing sounds. Photos and sounds of the Spotted Towhee can be seen and heard at the Macaulay Library.
STATUS AND DISTRIBUTION
The Spotted Towhee is common and widespread in the western United States, southwestern Canada, and much of Mexico. In the Pacific Northwest, towhees in the lowlands are likely to be permanent residents, but others will migrate. Some towhees in mountainous regions migrate altitudinally to lower elevation, and others withdraw to southern states (Bartos Smith and Greenway).
Spotted Towhees are common and current populations are stable. They have coexisted with humans in various environments, but large-scale development has resulted in lost habitat for them. The most dangerous predators for Spotted Towhees are domestic cats, which in the United States kill 2.4 billion birds each year. “Predation by domestic cats is the number-one direct, human-caused threat to birds in the United States and Canada” (American Bird Conservancy).
Photo by Mick Thompson. References available upon request from amccormick@eastsideaudubon.org.