Male Spotted Towhee, Beaverton, Oregon, 19 February 2011 by Greg Gillson.The Spotted Towhee above is typical of the "Oregon Towhee" (Pipilo maculatus oregonus), the subspecies of Spotted Towhee found west of the Cascades in Oregon, Washington, and coastal SW British Columbia. It is the least spotted of all Spotted Towhee populations with reduced white on the wings, scapulars, and tail. Compared to all other races it truly is barely spotted.
Female Spotted Towhee, Beaverton, Oregon, 18 February 2011 by Greg Gillson.Above is the grayish-brown female Oregon form of Spotted Towhee. She is even less spotted than the male. Both sexes of the Oregon Towhee have deeper brown (less orange) sides than other forms of Spotted Towhees.
Because the winters are mild where this form breeds, these towhees don't undergo a north-south migration, and most birds are thought to be residents, but there are some seasonal movements in and out of some locations.
These aren't the most artistic photos I have of Spotted Towhees--you can see a piece of the base of the bird feeder in two shots, and I'm looking down on the birds rather than the preferred level photo angle. But there they are, right outside my window. So, I can sit here and type a few lines and stand up, turn around, and snap another photo.... Oops, there, I did it again! I can't get any work done here--I love it!
But I wanted to show you the above birds first, so that I can show you the next photos. The birds below are apparently the "Nevada Towhee" (Pipilo maculatus curtatus), the form of Spotted Towhee found east of the Cascade crest from interior southern British Columbia and Idaho, south to northeast California and central Nevada.
The Nevada Towhee may winter sparsely in their breeding territories, but most seem to migrate to Arizona and southern California, and Sonora, Mexico.
I can find no documented occurences of Nevada Towhees in western Oregon. Thus I present the following photos.
Spotted Towhee, Beaverton, Oregon, 18 February 2011 by Greg Gillson.The photo above is an apparent male Nevada Towhee, perhaps the first documented occurence in western Oregon. However, there are two of them. The following bird is even more spotted, super-spotted, if you will.
Spotted Towhee, Beaverton, Oregon, 18 February 2011 by Greg Gillson.
Notice that these birds have more spots on the wing and scapulars. The outer tail feathers are edged in white and the tail spots are very large. The orange sides are a bit paler than the Oregon form.
You may notice that the primary wing feathers of all these birds are more brownish and worn than other blackish feathers of the wing, back, and tail. These molt limits indicate these are all one-year-old birds. Next fall they will molt their wing feathers and enter full adult plumage, never again to be aged by plumage.
On the female Oregon Towhee and the lower Nevada Towhee, you can see some white pin-feathers in feather sheaths on the face near the eyes, indicating active body molt.
At least for the Oregon Towhee, adults probably remain on their home territory year round. Young of the year venture out and establish their own territories. Thus, it is possible that come spring, these young birds will move on to better breeding territory than my backyard. Since there are no adults here now at all, maybe the habitat is not good enough for breeding. We'll have to wait and see.
The two Nevada Towhees above will no doubt migrate back over to the proper side of the Cascades here in a few weeks.
We have discussed Spotted Towhees before.
Addendum:
This female, and slightly aberrant (see rusty crown patch) Nevada Towhee put in a one-day appearance on 23 February 2011.
Spotted Towhee, Beaverton, Oregon, 23 February 2011 by Greg Gillson.
