From Opus

Photo by Michael W
Granada Park, Phoenix, ArizonaApril 2004

Pipilo aberti

[edit] Identification

L. 7.75in

• Conical bill
• Dark eye
• Brown upperparts
• Buffy underparts
• Rusty undertail coverts
• Long tail
  

Sexes are similar. Juvenile: (Spring to Fall)

• Lightly spotted below.

[edit] Similar Species

While related to and closely resembling the California and Canyon Towhees, this towhee is paler, more secretive, and has a different song. It has a black area around the base of the bill and is buffier overall.
The three do not interbreed, even though their ranges overlap.

Photo by feather
Phoenix, Arizona, July 2003

[edit] Distribution

Resident in southern and western Arizona, parts of neighboring Utah, New Mexico, and California, southward into Baja California and Sonora in Mexico.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

• P. a. aberti:

• Deserts of southern Utah to south-western Nevada and south-eastern California

• P. a.dumeticolus:

• Colorado Desert of north-eastern Baja and north-western Mexico (Sonora)

• P. a. vorhiesi:

• Southern Arizona (Tucson region) to extreme south-western New Mexico

[edit] Habitat

Along arroyos in desert thickets; associated with cottonwood, willow, and mesquite, although it is also found around farms, orchards, and urban areas.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Nesting

Three or 4 pale blue-green, scrawled eggs in a cup nest close to the ground in a bush or tree.

[edit] Diet

It feeds on insects and seeds.

[edit] Vocalisation

The call is a single bell-like note.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.

• List of references

[edit] External Links