Introduction At Channel
Islands National Park. spotted towhees (Pipilo
maculatus) occur on Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands.The species, which was formerly know as the
rufous-sided towhee, ranges from southern Mexico into Canada in western North
America. There are over 20 recognized subspecies, and the island birds belong
to the subspecies megalonyx, which
also occurs in coastal southern California. A separete subspeices (P. m. clementae) inhabits Sant aCatalina
Island and formerly occured on San Clemente Island, but was extirpated there by
the 1970s.
Quick and Cool Facts
While feeding on the ground spotted towhees often
use a two-footed, backwards-scratching hopping technique.. This
"double-scratching" is used by a number of towhee and sparrow species
to uncover the seeds and small invertebrates they feed on.
During conflicts between two towhees, one
bird pick up a piece of twig, bark, or leaf and carry it around. This seems to
be an indication of submission.
Early in the breeding season, male spotted towhees
spend their mornings singing their hearts out, trying to attract a mate. Male
towhees have been recorded spending 70 percent to 90 percent of their mornings
singing. Almost as soon as they attract a mate, their attention shifts to other
things, and they spend only about 5 percent of their time singing.
When
disturbed, a nesting female spotted towhee may run away like a mouse rather
than fly.
They
occasionally sun themselves, lying down on the grass with feathers spread.
They
often bathe in dew or fog drip on vegetation.
A
group of towhees are collectively known as a "tangle" and a
"teapot" of towhees.
Spotted
towhees live in drier habitats than eastern towhees. Some scientists have
suggested that the bold white spots on spotted towhees' backs help them blend
in to the sun-dappled undergrowth.
The
oldest recorded spotted towhee was 10 years 8 months old.
Appearance The
spotted towhee is a large sparrow with white-spotted black back and black rump. Its breast is
black, the belly white, and sides are rufous.
The species has a black head with eyes that are red. Distinctively, its wings
are black with white spots. It has a tail that is long and black with white
corners. The female spotted towhee is duller, with brown instead of black and
fewer white spots. Differences between the subspecies, P. m. clementae and P. m.
megalonyx, the most locally common of the subspecies, is that clementae is
in size slightly greater than megalonyx;its bill and feet appreciably larger.
As well, clementae's coloration is grayer
than in megalonyx with its black areas
in the male duller and less intense.The
rump and lower back of clementae is more
or less mixed with grayish.
Range Spotted towhees
are widely distributed in western North America, occurring from the southern tip
of Mexico to southern Canada. The spotted towhee is the most common bird on
Santa Rosa Island, according to park landbird studies.
Habitat Spotted towhees are birds of dry thickets, brushy
tangles, forest edges, old fields, shrubby backyards, chaparral, coulees, and
canyon bottoms, places with dense shrub cover and plenty of leaf litter for the
towhees to scratch around in. Data from the park's landbird monitoring
program indicates that spotted towhees on Santa Rosa Island favor scrub,
grassland and chaparral habitat types.
Feeding Spotted towhees rummage in the leaf litter or
creep through thick shrubs. Towhees tend to hop wherever they go, moving
deliberately and giving themselves plenty of time to spot food items. They
scratch at leaves with a characteristic two-footed backward hop, and then
pounce on anything they've uncovered.
Reproduction In
the breeding season, spotted towhees eat mainly insects including ground
beetles, weevils, ladybugs, darkling beetles, click beetles, wood-boring
beetles, crickets, grasshoppers, caterpillars, moths, bees, and wasps. Other
leaf-litter arthropods such as millipedes, sowbugs, and spiders are taken as
well. They also eat acorns, berries, and seeds including buckwheat, thistle,
raspberry, blackberry, poison oak, sumac, nightshade, chickweed, and crops such
as oats, wheat, corn, and cherries. In fall and winter, these plant foods make
up the majority of their diet.
Spotted
towhee nests are usually built in depressions on the ground, or occasionally in
vegetation 1 ½to 5 feet off of the ground, which are
typically overhung with bushes, vines, or clumps of grass that provide shelter
and protective screening. The female lays two to six white or gray eggs flecked
with purple and red brown that she incubates from 12 to 14 days. Pairs will raise two and occasionally three
broods in a single season and will renest following nest failure.
Conservation Status The California Department of Fish and Game has listed the
San Clemente spotted towhee, which occurs currently on Santa Catalina Island
and formerly occurred on San Clemente Island, as a California Bird Species of
Special Concern.
Additional Information
PDF
of San Clemente Spotted Towhee account from:Shuford, W. D., and Gardali, T.,
editors. 2008. California Bird Species of Special Concern: A ranked assessment
of species, subspecies, and distinct populations of birds of immediate
conservation concern in California. Studies of Western Birds Western Field
Ornithologists, Camarillo, California, and California Department of Fish and
Game, Sacramento
Coonan, T.J., R.C. Klinger and L.C. Dye. 2011. Trends in
landbird abundance at Channel Islands National Park, 1993-2009. Natural
Resource Technical Report NPS/CHIS/NRTR-2011/507
