Collared Towhee (Pipilo ocai) [XC228197]
by Dan Lane from Floripondio road, Volcan de Nieve, Jalisco, Mexico (song)
Collared Towhee (Pipilo ocai) [XC880796]
by Jarrod Swackhamer from San Miguel Suchixtepec, San Mateo R\u00edo Hondo, Oaxaca, Mexico (call)
Subspecies
Relationships of genus not clear, although generally placed close to several other, similarly proportioned tropical American genera (e.g. some Aimophila, Atlapetes, Pyrgisoma and Melozone). Commonly hybridizes with Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus) in northern and east of range (mainly subspecies alticola and nigrescens, alticola forming a hybrid swarm with adjacent populations of that species), but in Oaxaca brunnescens apparently sympatric with Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus) without interbreeding.
The following 5 subspecies are recognised:
alticola (Salvin & Godman, 1889) - Western Jalisco and extreme north-eastern Colima, in western Mexico.
nigrescens (Salvin & Godman, 1889) - North-central Michoacán (east to near Morelia), in central Mexico.
guerrerensis van Rossem, 1938 - Sierra Madre del Sur (in Guerrero), in south-western Mexico.
ocai (Lawrence, 1867) - Mountains of eastern Puebla and west-central Veracruz, in east-central Mexico.
brunnescens van Rossem, 1938 - Central Oaxaca, in southern Mexico.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet