Collared Towhee

About the Collared Towhee

The collared towhee (Pipilo ocai) is a species of bird in the family Passerellidae, the New World sparrows. It is endemic to Mexico. The collared towhee was formally described in 1865 with the binomial Buarremon ocai. It was eventually reassigned to its present Pipilo, a genus that had been erected in 1816.

The collared towhee has these five subspecies: P. o. alticola (Salvin & Godman, 1889) P. o. nigrescens (Salvin & Godman, 1889) P. o. guerrerensis Van Rossem, 1938 P. o. brunnescens Van Rossem, 1938 P. o. ocai (Lawrence, 1865) The collared towhee is 19.5 to 23 cm (7.7 to 9.1 in) long. It is the heaviest member of its family though some other towhees are longer; males weigh 61 to 68 g (2.2 to 2.4 oz) and females 54.5 to 62.5 g (1.9 to 2.2 oz). Its wing chord is 7.9 to 9.2 cm (3.1 to 3.6 in), its relatively short tail is 8.9 to 10.6 cm (3.5 to 4.2 in), the bill is 1.5 to 1.8 cm (0.59 to 0.71 in), and the tarsus is 2.8 to 3.4 cm (1.1 to 1.3 in).

The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies P. o. ocai have a black forehead with a white line in its middle, a rufous crown, a long white supercilium that reaches the side... Wikipedia →