Spotted Towhee (Pipilo) [XC581025]
by Steve Hampton from Red Mountain Open Space, Larimer County, Colorado, United States (song)
Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus) [XC716060]
by Barry Edmonston from Morro Coast Audubon Society Sweet Springs Nature Preserve (near Baywood-Los Osos), San Luis Obispo County, California, United States (song)
Subspecies
Pipilo erythrophthalmus (Sibley and Monroe 1990, 1993) has been split into Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) and Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus) following AOU (1998).
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). Sometimes considered conspecific with Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus), with which it hybridizes in Great Plains of USA. Also, commonly hybridizes with Collared Towhee (Pipilo ocai) in Mexico. Southern subspecies macronyx, vulcanorum and oaxacae ("macronyx group") sometimes treated together as a separate species, and island subspecies socorroensis sometimes treated as a further full species. Subspecies griseipygius intergrades with montanus, and vulcanorum intergrades with nominate. Geographical variation partially clinal. Subspecies oaxacae poorly differentiated, perhaps better merged in chiapensis.
The following 22 subspecies are recognised:
oregonus Bell, 1849 - Extreme south-eastern Canada (south-western British Columbia) southern in western USA to south-western Oregon. Non-breeding south to southern California.
falcinellus Swarth, 1913 - Interior and south-western Oregon south to California (western and south-eastern slopes of Sierra Nevada).
falcifer McGregor, 1900 - Coastal northern California (south to Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties).
megalonyx Baird, SF, 1858 - Coastal southern California from Monterey and Kern Counties south, including Santa Cruz I, to extreme north-western Mexico (north-western Baja California south to 32° north).
clementae Grinnell, 1897 - Santa Rosa, Santa Catalina and San Clemente Is, off south-western California.
umbraticola Grinnell & Swarth, 1926 - Northern Baja California (32° north south to 30° north).
magnirostris Brewster, 1891 - Sierra de la Laguna, southern Baja California Sur, Mexico.
socorroensis Grayson, 1867 - Socorro I, off western Mexico. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Socorro Towhee (Pipilo socorroensis).
arcticus (Swainson, 1832) - Breeds in south-western Canada (central Alberta and central Saskatchewan) southern in USA (east of Rocky Mts) to south-eastern Wyoming, north-eastern Colorado, central Nebraska and north-western Kansas. Non-breeding mainly southern USA from central Arizona (rare) and south-western New Mexico east to central Iowa, western Missouri and southern Texas, southern in Mexico to central Chihuahua and central Nuevo León.
curtatus Grinnell, 1911 - Northern Great Basin in south-western Canada (interior southern British Columbia) and north-western USA (northern Idaho south to north-eastern California, central Nevada and south-eastern Idaho). Non-breeding south to south-eastern California and south-eastern Arizona.
montanus Swarth, 1905 - Breeds in southern Great Basin and Rocky Mts region from south-eastern California east to south-eastern Nevada, northern Utah, north-central Colorado, north-eastern New Mexico and western Oklahoma, south to south-central Arizona and northern Mexico (north-eastern Sonora and north-western Chihuahua). Non-breeding south to northern Sonora, central Chihuahua and central-southern Texas.
gaigei van Tyne & Sutton, 1937 - Southern USA (eastern and south-eastern New Mexico and western Texas) and adjacent northern Mexico (northern Coahuila).
griseipygius van Rossem, 1934 - Sierra Madre Occidental from south-western Chihuahua (29° north) south through eastern Sinaloa and western Durango to north-eastern Nayarit and western Zacatecas (western Mexico).
orientalis Sibley, 1950 - Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico from south-eastern Coahuila, central Nuevo León and south-western Tamaulipas south to north-eastern Guanajuato, Querétaro and northern Hidalgo (eastern Mexico).
maculatus Swainson, 1827 - Highlands of south-eastern Tlaxcala, west-central Veracruz and eastern Puebla, in eastern Mexico.
macronyx Swainson, 1827 - Mountains on western and south-western sides of Valley of Mexico (in eastern Michoacán, México, north-western Morelos and Distrito Federal).
vulcanorum Sibley, 1950 - Mountains on south-eastern side of Valley of Mexico (in México, north-eastern Morelos, south-western Tlaxcala and western Puebla).
oaxacae Sibley, 1950 - Highlands of northern and central Oaxaca, in southern Mexico.
chiapensis van Rossem, 1938 - Mountains of central Chiapas, in south-eastern Mexico.
repetens Griscom, 1930 - South-eastern Chiapas (Volcán Tacaná) and Pacific cordillera of Guatemala.
consobrinus! Ridgway, 1876 - Formerly Isla Guadalupe (off western Baja California). Extinct; last observed in 1897.
sympatricus Phillips,AR, 1966 - Mountains of eastern Mexico (Sierra de Tuxtla of Veracruz).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet