Species: Pipilo chlorurus
Green-tailed Towhee
Species
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Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Aves
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Emberizidae
Genus
Pipilo
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Tohi à queue verte - Toquí Cola Verde
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Perching Birds
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Passeriformes - Emberizidae - Pipilo - Often has been treated in the monotypic genus CHLORURA (or OBERHOLSERIA); the latter name is a junior synonym of the former (Banks and Browning 1995). See Banks and Browning (1995) for a discussion of nomenclatural issues involving PIPILO.
Ecology and Life History
Short General Description
A bird (towhee).
Migration
false - false - true - Migrates northward and to higher elevations late February-early May (Terres 1980), southward and to lower elevations September-October, with postfledging dispersal peaking in late August (Sierra Nevada). Observed as common in New Mexico throughout migration (Bailey 1928). Observed in desert washes (containing acacia, mesquite hackberry, creosote bush, willow and palo verde) during spring migration (Szaro and Jakle 1985). Observed in dense shrub habitats during spring on islands in Gulf of California, off southern Baja California (Emlen 1979). Juvenile birds may disperse to subalpine meadows, particularly in dry years where food is limited elsewhere (Morton 1991, Dobbs et al. 1998).
Non-migrant
false
Locally Migrant
false
Food Comments
Feeds on seeds, berries, and insects. Forages on the ground by scratching beneath brush.
Reproduction Comments
Clutch size two to four (usually four). Nestlings altricial and downy.
Ecology Comments
In Colorado, mean breeding density reported at 3.0 pairs per 40 ha in aspen/willow and spruce/aspen stands (Winternitz 1976).
Length
18
Weight
29
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1998-12-01
Global Status Last Changed
1996-12-04
Other Status
LC - Least concern
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?US.AZ=S3&US.CA=SNR&US.CO=S5&US.ID=S5&US.MT=S4&US.NN=S4&US.NE=__&US.NV=S5&US.NM=S3&US.OK=__&US.OR=S4&US.TX=S4&US.UT=S4&US.WA=S2&US.WY=S5" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
BREEDING: southwestern and central Oregon, southeastern Washington, southern Idaho, southwestern Montana, Wyoming, south through interior mountains to southern California, southern Nevada, central Arizona, southern New Mexico (AOU 1983). Breeding documented from Sierra San Pedro Martir, Baja California (Erickson and Wurster 1998). NON-BREEDING: southern California, southern Arizona, western and southern Texas, south to southern Baja California and central Mexico (Jalisco, Guanajuato, Queretaro, Morelos, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosi, and Tamaulipas). Migrants range east to western Kansas, western Oklahoma, and west-central Texas (AOU 1983).