A familiar sight in British Columbia, male Spotted Towhees have reddish-orange flanks, black wings, and grey underwings, though the females have grey wings instead of black. The nests of these sparrows are often cleverly hidden from our sight – but issues arise when humans mow lawns and use pesticides. A widespread towhee of the West, sometimes abundant in chaparral and on brushy mountain slopes. These types of injuries sustained from lawn equipment can vary greatly resulting in non-recoverable injuries such as missing limbs to treatable lacerations and head trauma. The egg shells are grayish or creamy-white, sometimes with a tinge of green, with reddish brown spots that can form a wreath or cap. Thi… Spotted Towhees place their nests either on the ground or near it (though occasionally up to 12 feet high). The spotted towhee is a large New World sparrow, roughly the same size as a Robin. Spotted Towhees will also make elevated nests, but these are not as common as ground nests. Spotted Towhees nest low to the ground, either in bushes or directly on the ground. The western Spotted Towhee differs from the Eastern Towhee’s call in the introduction. [14] The female builds the nest over a period of about five days. There is a strong relationship between the number of snakes that a nest encounters and the lowered probability of young chicks fledgling. They often use shrubby thickets in residential areas, on clear-cuts, and around wetlands. Spotted towhee clutch sizes are usually three to five eggs. The nest is an open cup of twigs and weeds lined with finer material. Spotted towhees will be present in an area that is recovering after a burn (less than 15 years old),[9] due to excellent ground cover and ease of ground foraging from the recovering understory vegetation,[7] although populations will decrease after a forest fire until the vegetation has grown back.[10]. Females are smiliar to the males in appearance, but the black areas are … Often found scratching noisily in leaf litter in dense shrubbery, chaparral and forest edges, the Spotted Towhee will sometimes come out in the open and sing from the top of an exposed bush. [2] An archaic name for the spotted towhee is the Oregon towhee (Pipilo maculatus oregonus). [3] The spotted towhee has a wingspan of 11.0 in (28 cm)[4]. During the breeding season (spring and summer) they mainly eat insects, ground dwelling beetles, spiders and other arthropods that reside in the leaf litter that is foraged by the spotted towhee. The eggs are slightly oblong, with their dimensions being 2 cm (0.79 in) to 2.6 cm (1.0 in) long and 1.7 cm (0.67 in) to 1.9 cm (0.75 in) wide. [14] They will frequent bird feeders if present in their woodland habitat. Similar to other birds such as the Killdeer and California Quail, female Spotted Towhees create nests in exposed areas such as woodland edges, gardens, the base of a shrub, a clump of grass, or a log. The spotted towhee (Pipilo maculatus) is a large New World sparrow. The Spotted Towhee and the very similar Eastern Towhee used to be considered the same species, the Rufous-sided Towhee, until 1995. The Towhee’s vocalization has been described as a drawn-out buzzy trill, “chweeeee”,”tu-wheeze”, or a long drawn out “breee”(Davis 1958). © Copyright 2020 WRA Wildlife Rescue Association of British Columbia. It is present in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, Washington, and southern British Columbia[6] year round. Registered Charity #131373490RR0001 The appearance of this bird varies in different parts of the country. During winter, the birds move south from British Columbia, Nebraska, and southern New England. Listen to the Spotted Towhee. Identification. 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