Spotted Towhee

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Spotted Towhee
In winter the Spotted Towhee seems to be somewhat hardier than the Eastern Towhee, as it withstands lower temperatures. Still, some towhees in the Southwest move to lower altitudes when temperatures drop, and towhees in the Northwest may move eastward into the Great Plains. The exact ecological requirements for various races of Spotted Towhee differ more than they do for Eastern Towhee races, but, in general, about 30 percent of the Spotted Towhee’s food is insects and the rest is seeds and berries. During the winter, these towhees may consume acorns. Mountain manzanita thickets, scrub oaks, and pinyon-juniper woods with dense understory are typical habitats. This secretive bird is rarely seen in the open, except when flushed.
Spotted Towhee Range Map

Spotted Towhees nest on the ground, and the female does all of the work of building the nest and incubating the eggs. When disturbed, she may run away like a mouse rather than fly. The songs of Spotted Towhees are typically one to five notes followed by a higher trill. Pacific Coast songs are more of a dry buzz.

Description: Smaller and more slender than a robin, the Spotted Towhee is a large sparrow (seven to eight inches in length), strongly patterned in black and white with robin-red flanks.

The males have black upperparts and hoods, rusty orange flanks, and white bellies. The long black tail has white corners, which are conspicuous in flight. The undertail is buff. The dark mantle and scapular feathers are variably spotted with white, forming distinct white stripes. The Spotted Towhee further differs from the unspotted Eastern Towhee in that there is no white speculum on the wing; instead, the Spotted Towhee has two white wing bars formed by white tips on the wing coverts. Females are similar in color, but they have slate gray or dull black upperparts in Pacific Coast birds, or dull brownish gray upperparts in birds from the Great Plains and Northwest.

At one time, the Spotted Towhee from the western United States and the closely related Eastern Towhee were known collectively as the Rufous-sided Towhee. Today, they are considered separate species based on differences that include song and plumage. But where their ranges meet in the northern Great Plains of the United States, hybrids that are intermediate in appearance have been seen.

The western half of the former Rufous-sided Towhee superspecies is widespread, especially in chaparral and on brushy slopes. The Spotted Towhee ranges in the West from southern Canada south through Mexico to Central America.

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