Photo by Glenn Bartley
- Melozone fusca
Pipilo fusca
Identification
20–25 cm
Brown upperparts, lighter underparts, dark head, rufous cap, reddish under tail, long tail.
Sexes similar
Similar Species
Paler, grayer, and shows more contrast than the California Towhee.
Distribution
Southwestern United States and northern Mexico.
Taxonomy
Formerly considered conspecific with the California Towhee under the name Brown Towhee.
Subspecies
mesoleucum has a much darker brown cap than texanus There are 10 subspecies[1]:
- P. f. mesoleucus: has a much darker brown cap than texanus
- Arizona and New Mexico to western Texas, Sonora and north-western Chihuahua
- P. f. intermedius: Semi-arid north-western Mexico (southern Sonora to northern Sinaloa)
- P. f. jamesi: Isla Tiburón (northern Sea of Cortés off Sonora)
- P. f. mesatus: South-eastern Colorado to north-eastern New Mexico and extreme north-western Oklahoma
- P. f. texanus: Highlands of western and central Texas to northern Mexico (north-western Coahuila)
- P. f. perpallidus: Mountains of western Mexico (Sierra Madre Occidental)
- P. f. fuscus: Mountains of western Mexico (Nayarit, Jalisco and Colima to Distrito Federal)
- P. f. potosinus: Highlands of northern Mexico (Coahuila to north-eastern Jalisco and south-western Tamaulipas)
- P. f. campoi: Highlands of east-central Mexico (Hidalgo, adjacent Puebla and Veracruz)
- P. f. toroi: South-central Mexico (Tlaxcala to Veracruz, Puebla and northern Oaxaca)
Two additional subspecies aimophilus and relictus are generally considered invalid[2].
This species was formerly placed in the genus Pipilo
Habitat
Brush or chaparral.
Behaviour
Diet
The diet includes insects.
References
- Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
- Avibase
- 51st supplement to the AOU checklist of North American birds
- BF Member observations
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Canyon Towhee. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 19 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Canyon_Towhee
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
