Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus)

OTHER NAMES: Rufous-sided Towhee, Oregon Towhee 
Latin Etymology: Pipilo ("to cheep") maculatus ("spotted") 

Adult male Spotted Towhee (subspecies P. m. falcifer) at Roy's Redwoods, California - August 2022

Featured Subspecies: Pipilo maculatus falcifer
Weight: 33g  /  Length: 17cm  /  Wingspan: 28cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Least Concern

A distinctively patterned bird, the Spotted Towhee is a bird of upland forest and scrub - they are closely related to the similar looking Eastern Towhee, with which it was formerly considered a single species. Given their favoured habitat, their colonisation of an area tends to follow regrowth after fires, which means that smaller scrubland can re-establish for a while.

Related Species:
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Passerellidae
Genus: Pipilo
SUBSPECIES: P. m. oregonus,  P. m. falcifer,  P. m. megalonyx, P. m. clementae, P. m. umbraticola, P. m. consobrinus, P. m. arcticus, P. m. curtatus, P. m. falcinellus, P. m. monatus, P. m. gaigei, P. m. griseipygius, P. m. orientalis, P. m. maculatus, P. m. sympatricus, P. m. vulcanorum, P. m. oaxacae, P. m. chiapensis, P. m. repetens, P. m. macronyx, P. m. socorroensis

 - Sighting Locations -

UNITED STATES 
Found in much of the Western Unted States
 - CALIFORNIA 2022 TRIP:  Seen at Roy's Redwoods

Further Notes: BirdForum Opus, IUCN Red List, RSPB, Wikipedia, Xeno-canto