Bird name:

Green-tailed Towhee

Pipilo chlorurus

Order

PASSERIFORMES

Family

Sparrows (Emberizidae)

Code 4

GTTO

Code 6

PIPCHL

ITIS

179310

Breeding Location:

Bushes, shrubs, and thickets, Mountains

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Solitary nester

Breeding Population:

Fairly common

Egg Color:

White flecked with brown

Number of Eggs:

2 - 5

Incubation Days:

11 - 13

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Sticks, bark chips, and grass., Line with fine plant materials.

Migration:

Migratory

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General

Green-tailed Towhee: Large sparrow with olive-green upperparts and pale gray underparts. Crown is rufous, throat is white with black stripes, and bill is gray. Wings and tail are edged with olive-yellow. Sexes are similar. Juvenile is streaked overall with pale gray underparts, brown upperparts, and pale, black-streaked throat.

Range and Habitat

Green-tailed Towhee: Breeds from central Oregon south through mountains to southern California and Great Basin to southeastern New Mexico. Spends winters at lower elevations and south to southern Arizona and central and southern Texas; also migrates to Mexico. Preferred habitats include dry scrublands, primarily scrub oak, mountain mahogany, sagebrush, saltbrush, serviceberry, and pinyon-juniper.

Breeding and Nesting

Green-tailed Towhee: Two to five white eggs flecked with brown are laid in a deep, bulky, thick-walled cup nest made of sticks, bark chips, and grass, and lined with hair and fine plant material. Incubation ranges from 11 to 13 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Green-tailed Towhee: Feeds primarily on insects; also eats seeds and berries. Forages on the ground by double-scratching under foliage; drinks morning dew from leaves.

Readily Eats

Cracked Corn, Peanuts, Nut Meats

Vocalization

Green-tailed Towhee: Song is a series of raspy trills "swee-too weet chur cheee-churr." Call is a nasal "meew" or "chink."

Similar Species

Green-tailed Towhee: Olive Sparrow is smaller and has a brown-striped crown.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Crown

The crown is the top part of the birds head.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America