Original description: Fringilla crissalis Vigors 1839
Taxonomic history in AOU/AOS Check-list
AOU 1 (1886): Saint Lucas Towhee, Pipilo fuscus albigula; Californian Towhee, Pipilo fuscus crissalis
AOU 2 (1895): Saint Lucas Towhee, Pipilo fuscus albigula; California Towhee, Pipilo fuscus crissalis; Anthony’s Towhee, Pipilo fuscus senicula
AOU 3 (1910): San Lucas Towhee, Pipilo fuscus albigula; California Towhee, Pipilo crissalis crissalis; Anthony’s Towhee, Pipilo crissalis senicula
AOU 4 (1931): Oregon Brown Towhee, Pipilo fuscus bullatus; Sacramento Brown Towhee, Pipilo fuscus carolae; San Francisco Brown Towhee, Pipilo fuscus petulans; California Towhee, Pipilo fuscus crissalis; Anthony’s Towhee, Pipilo fuscus senicula; San Pablo Towhee, Pipilo fuscus aripolius; San Lucas Towhee, Pipilo fuscus albigula
AOU 5 (1957): Brown Towhee, Pipilo fuscus bullatus, Pipilo fuscus carolae, Pipilo fuscus eremophilus, Pipilo fuscus petulans, Pipilo fuscus crissalis, Pipilo fuscus senicula, Pipilo fuscus aripolius, Pipilo fuscus albigula
AOU 6 (1983): Brown Towhee, Pipilo fuscus [crissalis group]
AOU 7 (1998): California Towhee, Pipilo crissalis
IUCN Conservation Status: Of least concern
What at times might seem merely an arcane shuffling of categories can have significant consequences for bird conservation. The California Towhees of Inyo County are certainly imperiled; here as in so much of the inland west, feral horses and other non-native organisms have wrought havoc on wild habitats, including the riparian willow thickets essential to the Inyo towhee’s survival. These towhees are now widely considered a disjunct population of the nominate subspecies crissalis and thus, strictly speaking, of only local and minor conservation concern. Both California and federal conservation agencies, however, continue to treat them as a distinct subspecies Melozone crissalis eremophila, and are thus able to offer the Inyo California Towhee and its habitats some legal protection. This population has been listed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife as endangered since 1980 and by the US Fish and Wildlife Service as threatened since 1987. After the removal of more than thirteen thousand feral horses and burros and a near trebling of towhee numbers, the population was expected to be delisted at the federal level in 2015, though fire, human recreation, and vegetation change continue to raise concerns about its survival.
While fire threatens the willow thickets and the towhees of Inyo County, its suppression throughout the rest of the California Towhee’s range may endanger other populations. Fire was historically one of the natural mechanisms maintaining the open brushy habitats and edges favored by this species, and in its absence, brushlands may attain a height and density unsuitable for towhees and other ground-feeding, edge-loving birds. In some areas, carefully monitored grazing by livestock might help replicate habitats once shaped by fire.
Behavior: California Towhees are not shy, and quickly grow accustomed to human presence, even begging for crumbs in picnic areas. Feeding birds move with a shuffling hop on the ground, indifferently beneath bushes or on open ground. Startled, they may break into a run for a few feet, then return to noisy hopping and scratching in search of seeds and tiny insects.
California Towhees spend far more time on the ground or in low shrubs than they do in flight, usually flying only a few feet before taking a perch. The flight is weak and fluttering, on noticeably short, rounded wings; the long tail is usually held fairly steady in flight, but may be flared just before landing.
The male’s song is delivered from an exposed perch atop a bush, tree, picnic shelter, or pole. Though the song may be given while the bird is in flight—especially just before landing—this species does not have a stereotyped flight display.
Voice: The most commonly heard vocalization is a loud, sharp, high-pitched tjeek, calling to mind the chip of a Blue Grosbeak. The tone is decidedly metallic, with a noticeable squeakiness in the attack. This call can be given singly or in a long series, exceptionally for as long as twenty-five minutes; it is often given by feeding birds, on the ground or in low vegetation, and is sometimes the first clue to the presence of the species. Individuals hiding in denser brush may switch to a long, hissing tseee, similar to the corresponding call of the Abert and Canyon Towhees but without the discordant buzz of the note given by the Spotted Towhee.
Like the Abert and Canyon Towhees, this species also has a reunion greeting, a loud, accelerating series of squeals and hoarse squeaks given in affirmation of the bond joining a mated pair. The duet is not usually given in perfect synchrony, but with one bird’s performance set off by a split second from the other’s, thus doubling all of the notes. Each bird’s part begins with a few bright, metallic ticking notes, which are followed by a faster rattle: teep-teep-claclacla.
The song is often surprisingly soft for a bird of this size. The typical series of metallic chips begins three or four call-like notes, which are followed by a ragged accelerating trill on the same pitch; some songs end with a soft, lower-pitched chortle: teepteeptptptptchur.
Detailed description and measurements drawn from standard reference works
Adult Melozone crissalis crissalis: Tail feathers blackish brown, with black shafts; outermost rectrices with faint cinnamon tips. Upper tail coverts and rump dark gray-brown with subtly grayer tips and edges. Back and scapulars dark gray-brown. Primaries, secondaries, and tertials dark gray-brown with browner edges. Greater and median coverts dark gray-brown with faint paler edges. Nape dark gray-brown.
Under tail coverts and vent bright russet-cinnamon. Belly pale dull buff. Most of breast dark gray-brown. Throat and variable extent of upper breast cinnamon-buff, irregularly streaked and flecked with dull sooty rust. Throat bordered by poorly marked, incomplete dull sooty rust lateral throat stripe. Poorly defined jaw stripe and lore cinnamon-buff. Crown dull rusty. Ear coverts dull gray-brown, very faintly bordered below by slightly darker gray-brown whisker stripe. Narrow eye ring yellowish buff.
Stout tarsi and toes dull pink. Bill dull pinkish gray beneath, darker grayish above, especially on culmen.
Adult Melozone crissalis albigula: Tail feathers blackish brown, with black shafts; outermost rectrices with faint cinnamon tips. Upper tail coverts and rump dark gray-brown with subtly grayer tips and edges. Back and scapulars dark gray-brown. Primaries, secondaries, and tertials dark gray-brown with browner edges. Greater and median coverts dark gray-brown with faint paler edges. Nape dark gray-brown.
Under tail coverts and vent dull yellowish cinnamon. Belly pale dull buffy gray. Most of breast pale dull gray-brown. Throat and variable extent of upper breast whitish, irregularly streaked and flecked with dull sooty. Throat bordered by poorly marked, incomplete dull sooty lateral throat stripe. Poorly defined jaw stripe and lore dull whitish or whitish yellow. Crown extensively rusty. Ear coverts dull gray-brown, very faintly bordered below by slightly darker gray-brown whisker stripe. Narrow eye ring yellowish white.
Stout tarsi and toes dull pink. Bill dull pinkish gray beneath, darker grayish above, especially on culmen.
Juvenile Melozone crissalis crissalis: Tail feathers blackish brown, with black shafts; outermost rectrices with faint cinnamon tips. Upper tail coverts, rump, back, and scapulars dark gray-brown with cinnamon tips and edges. Primaries, secondaries, and tertials dark gray-brown with brighter edges. Greater and median coverts dark gray-brown with faint cinnamon edges and tips. Nape dull gray-brown.
Under tail coverts, vent, belly, and breast brownish, with indistinct darker brownish streaking. Throat brownish, bordered by poorly marked, incomplete dull brownish lateral throat stripe. Poorly defined jaw stripe and lore dull brownish. Crown and ear coverts dull brownish. Narrow eye ring brownish white, usually broken by hint of narrow blackish eye line.
Stout tarsi and toes dull pink. Bill dull gray beneath, darker grayish above, especially on culmen.
Length 214-228 mm (8.4-9.0 inches)
Wing chord 96-99 mm (3.8-3.9 inches)
Tail 108-110 mm (4.2-4.3 inches)
W:T 0.91
Mass 51-56 g
