Pipilo maculatus
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The spotted towhee (Pipilo maculatus) is a large New World sparrow. The taxonomy of the towhees has been debated in recent decades, and until 1995 this bird and the eastern towhee were considered a single species, then named rufous-sided towhee. Another outdated name for the spotted towhee is the Oregon towhee (particularly for the subspecies Pipilo maculatus oregonus). The call may be harsher and more varied than for the eastern towhee.
The spotted towhee is a large New World sparrow, roughly the same size as a gray catbird. It has a long, dark, fan-shaped tail with white corners on the end. It has a round body (similar to New World sparrows) with bright red eyes and dull pink legs. The spotted towhee is between 17 cm (6.7 in) and 21 cm (8.3 in) long, and weighs in at between 33 g (1.2 oz) and 49 g (1.7 oz). It has a wingspan of 28 cm (11 in).
Adult males have a generally darker head, upper body and tail with a white belly, rufous sides, white spots on their back and white wing bars. Females look similar but are dark brown and grey instead of black. The spotted towhee has white spots on its primary and secondary feathers; the eastern towhee is the same in terms of... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guadalupe Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Zion National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Channel Islands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Badlands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Grand Canyon National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Reserva de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 7 | Big Bend National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Yosemite National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Olympic National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | Great Bear Rainforest | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 12 | Joshua Tree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 13 | Cumbres de Monterrey National Park | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 14 | Redwood National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 15 | Pacific Rim National Park Reserve | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 16 | Death Valley National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 17 | Rocky Mountain National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 18 | Grand Teton National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 19 | Saguaro National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 20 | Glacier National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 21 | Yellowstone National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Denver | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Salt Lake City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | San Diego | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Spotted Towhee sighting in Portland on a given day, based on 28,971 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 9th most-seen of the 230 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and June
In those months about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Spotted Towhee in Portland on a given day, against about 50% in August–September and November–January, the lowest months. Those are among Portland's driest months, with about 65 mm of rain a month against 250 mm in December.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Spotted Towhee sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 23
Of the 23 cities where we can rate Spotted Towhee sightings, Portland ranks 3rd at about 60%. The best odds are in Vancouver (Canada, about 70%) and Seattle (United States, about 70%).
Same family: Passerellidae
The closest relatives of the Spotted Towhee that you can see in Portland (family Passerellidae, New World Sparrows) are Song Sparrow (about 90%), Dark-eyed Junco (about 70%) and Golden-crowned Sparrow (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Spotted Towhee is recorded against all the birds logged in Portland (28,971 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
