How to Identify aSpotted Towhee
Pipilo maculatus · 6.7–8.3 in (17–21 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Black head, throat and back liberally spotted with white, rich rufous sides and a white belly; red eye.
Female
Same pattern but with the black replaced by warm grayish-brown.
Male photo: Becky Matsubara from El Sobrante, California / Wikimedia, CC BY 2.0 · Second photo: ZeWrestler / Wikimedia, CC BY 3.0
Field marks
- Rows of white spots across black wings and back
- Deep rufous flanks against a white belly
- Red eye
- Long dark tail with white corners flashing in flight
Similar species
What it sounds like
A buzzy trilled song, and a rising, catlike, questioning "mewww" call from deep in a thicket.
Behaviour that gives it away
Feeds by hopping backwards with both feet at once to rake leaf litter, a noisy rummaging usually heard before the bird is seen.
Habitat & range
Chaparral, brushy edges, oak scrub and shrubby gardens across the western United States.
When you'll see it
Present all year in western North America.
What it eats
Seeds, insects, spiders and berries raked from leaf litter.
Did you know?
It and the Eastern Towhee were long treated as a single species called the Rufous-sided Towhee, and were split only in 1995.
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