{"id":11453,"date":"2019-02-25T19:20:54","date_gmt":"2019-02-26T00:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/?page_id=11453"},"modified":"2019-02-25T19:20:54","modified_gmt":"2019-02-26T00:20:54","slug":"collared-towhee-pipilo-ocai","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/birdaz.com\/blog\/collared-towhee-pipilo-ocai\/","title":{"rendered":"Collared Towhee, Pipilo ocai"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Original\u00a0description<\/a>:\u00a0<\/strong>Buarremon\u00a0ocai<\/em>\u00a0Lawrence\u00a01867<\/p>\n\n\n\n

eBird range map<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taxonomic\u00a0history\u00a0at\u00a0Avibase<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taxonomic\u00a0history\u00a0in\u00a0<\/strong>AOU\/AOS Check-list<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AOU 6 (1983): Collared Towhee, Pipilo ocai<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AOU 7 (1998): Collared Towhee, Pipilo ocai<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

IUCN Conservation\u00a0Status<\/a>:\u00a0<\/strong>Of\u00a0least\u00a0concern<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This species appears to be locally fairly common across its range. Its original natural habitat of high-elevation pine forests is threatened in some localities by logging and agricultural conversion, but where \u201cbushy fence rows\u201d are allowed to succeed clearing, they in fact provide towhee habitat superior to uncut forest with little or no brush. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behavior:<\/strong> Collared Towhees resemble their Spotted and Eastern relatives in their secretive, ground-loving behavior. Keeping close to cover in the brushy thickets, fencerows, and coniferous forests they prefer, Collared Towhees are often first detected by their scratching and jumping through the leaf litter in search of seeds and insects and other invertebrates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most foraging takes place on or very near the ground, though males may seek perches\u2014often concealed\u2014as high as twenty feet to sing. This species is usually seen singly or in pairs, often in close proximity to Spotted Towhees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flight is fluttering and usually brief, as the short wing and long tail would suggest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voice:\u00a0<\/strong>The calls of the Collared Towhee have been described as very similar to those of adjacent populations of Spotted Towhees; Sibley described the Collared Towhee\u2019s typical calls as shorter and sharper than the zhree <\/em>or jor-ee <\/em>of the Spotted. Calls recorded in Jalisco include a low, grumbling chatter; a very thin, slightly grating dzeer<\/em>; and a thin descending whistle. That last call is likely a variant of what Howell and Webb note as a distinctive \u201chigh, clear, usually ascending whistle, pseeeeeu <\/em>or teeeeeu<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Male Collared Towhees utter a wide variety of songs, all similar in tone and pattern to those of Spotted Towhees. One simple variant begins with a descending whistled call-like note, followed by a higher-pitched, rather musical trill; in a more assertive version, the introductory note is loud, brassy, and ascending, recalling the chewink <\/em>of an Eastern Towhee. Longer, more complex songs are also frequently given, in which the trill is preceded or, less often, followed by several chips at different pitches and of different tones; a given song type may be repeated for several minutes before the singer switches to another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Detailed\u00a0description\u00a0and\u00a0measurements\u00a0<\/strong>drawn\u00a0from\u00a0standard\u00a0reference\u00a0works<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adult<\/strong> Pipilo ocai ocai<\/em>: Tail feathers dull olive green. Upper tail coverts, rump, back, and nape olive green. Primaries and secondaries olive green, tertials tinged grayer. Greater and median coverts olive green on outer web, tinged grayer on inner. Marginal coverts canary yellow, creating sometimes visible wing flash. Under tail coverts brownish buff. Center of belly pale gray; flanks buffy olive, passing gradually into grayish sides of breast. Broad, neatly defined black band across white upper breast.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throat and jaw stripe bright white. Crown rufous with fine black edge; forehead black with narrow white stripe from bill base to front of crown. Ear coverts and lore solid black, sharply set off from green nape and separated from crown and forehead by long, narrow white supercilium, which extends from base of bill to nape.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill black. Tarsi and very long toes dull pinkish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Juvenile<\/strong> Pipilo ocai ocai<\/em>:\u00a0Tail feathers dull olive brown. Upper tail coverts and rump olive brown. Back and nape olive brown with irregular sparse blackish streaks. Primaries, secondaries, and tertials olive brown. Greater coverts narrowly tipped with buff or rust. Under tail coverts and vent dull yellowish buff. Center of belly dull grayish brown; flanks and sides of breast grayish buff with dusky streaking. Breast pale yellowish buff, crossed by a broad band of coarse black streaking.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throat and jaw stripe pale yellowish buff. Crown brown with narrow black streaks, forehead dusky with variable whitish or buff stripe. Ear coverts and lores blackish brown, set off from olive brown nape by long, variably indistinct buff or whitish, dusky-streaked and -smudged supercilium, which extends from base of bill to nape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill blackish. Tarsi and very long toes dull pinkish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Length<\/strong> 181-217 mm (7.1-8.5 inches)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wing chord<\/strong> 82-92 mm (3.2-3.6 inches)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tail<\/strong> 89-106 mm (3.5-4.2 inches)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

W:T<\/strong> 0.85<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mass<\/strong> 56-58 grams<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Original\u00a0description:\u00a0Buarremon\u00a0ocai\u00a0Lawrence\u00a01867 eBird range map Taxonomic\u00a0history\u00a0at\u00a0Avibase Taxonomic\u00a0history\u00a0in\u00a0AOU\/AOS Check-list\u00a0 AOU 6 (1983): Collared Towhee, Pipilo ocai AOU 7 (1998): Collared Towhee, Pipilo ocai IUCN Conservation\u00a0Status:\u00a0Of\u00a0least\u00a0concern This species appears to be locally fairly common across its range. Its original natural habitat of high-elevation pine forests is threatened in some localities by logging and agricultural conversion, but where \u201cbushy … <\/p>\n

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