How to Identify aCalifornia Towhee
Melozone crissalis · 8.3–9.8 in (21–25 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Uniform gray-brown with a warm rusty wash around the face and beneath the tail, and a stout conical bill. Sexes look alike.
Female
Identical to the male in the field.
Male photo: Dario / Wikimedia, CC0 · Second photo: Elizabeth Saxton Henry / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Field marks
- Completely plain brown with no wingbars or streaks
- Rusty-cinnamon patch under the tail
- Thick conical seed-eating bill
- Long tail and heavy-bodied shape
Similar species
What it sounds like
A sharp metallic "chink" note, and a song of accelerating chinks running into a rattle.
Behaviour that gives it away
Double-scratches in leaf litter with both feet, and pairs stay together on the same territory year-round.
Habitat & range
Chaparral, scrub, parks and suburban gardens throughout California.
When you'll see it
Present all year in western North America.
What it eats
Seeds and insects raked from leaf litter, plus fruit.
Did you know?
Notoriously territorial against its own reflection, it will attack windows, hubcaps and mirrors for weeks on end.
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