#pipilo

[herpsandbirds]

Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus), family Passerellidae, order Passeriformes, California, USA

photograph by Becky Matsubara

[best-bird-tournament]

Pipilo towhee runoff

Which is the best bird?

Spotted towhee

Eastern towhee

Voting ended onAug 22, 2025

Propaganda:

Eastern Towhee propaganda:

Cute chonky sparrow. Will tell you to "drink your tea!" all day long. Tea is good for you! This bird is also very good at scraping through leaves for bugs.

[haveyouseenthisbirdpoll]

Have you seen a Spotted towhee (Pipilo maculatus)?

Yes, in nature

Yes, in captivity

No, only in pictures/taxidermy/I've only heard of it

No, and I have never heard of this bird

No, but I have heard one

I might have/I'm not sure

Voting ended onJul 7, 2024

photo source

[orca-in-disguise]

Critter fact #148:

There are 8 extant species of towhees, 4 in the genus Pipilo and 4 in the genus Melozone.

[coffeenuts]

Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus) by SharifUddin59 https://flic.kr/p/2oCXwDN

[uwmspeccoll]

A Towhee Feathursday

This week we present a few of those long-tailed sparrows, the Towhees!! These little beauties can be a bit shy, so they are often difficult to spot, but when you do, what a pleasure! Once again, these images are from Rex Brasher’s massive, limited-edition, 12-volume set Birds and Trees of North America, self-published in Kent, Connecticut, between 1929 and 1932, containing thousands of hand-colored reproductions of Brasher’s paintings.

These New World Passerines fall into two genera: Melozone and Pipilo, and we are showing specimens from both. From top to bottom, they are:

Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus): detail and full print -- This rufous-sided, speckled-wing towhee resides mainly west of the Mississippi River.

California Towhee (Melozone crissalis): full print only -- As the name indicates, this towhee ranges from northern California to the tip of the Baja peninsula.

Canyon Towhee (Melozone fusca): detail and full print -- The range of this towhee is adjacent to the California Towhee, and there is still some dispute whether the two are just subspecies of the same bird.

Abert's Towhee (Melozone aberti): full print only -- This little guy has a very narrow distribution mainly around the lower Colorado River and Gila River watersheds.

Green-tailed Towhee (Pipilo chlorurus): full print only -- The Green-tailed is just that, green-tailed, and is the smallest of the towhees. Its range covers most of the interior Western United States, with a winter range in Mexico and the southern edge of the Southwestern United States.

Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus): detail and full print -- This is the towhee we get to see here in Wisconsin, a very lovely bird! Its range covers much of the U.S, and parts of southeastern Canada, east of the Mississippi.

Find out more about Rex Brasher’s work, and/or view other posts from this set.

View more Feathursday posts

[that-crazy-scorpio-man]

Male eastern towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus).  So glad they respond to bird calls.  This one was eager to chat it up with me.

[dendroica]

Eastern Towhee (by me)