Extra-Spotted Towhee

[Lisa Millbank]

An unusual male towhee came to the yard today, and we thought he might be one of the interior subspecies which have more extensive white markings than our Pacific subspecies.  There's also the boldly spotted southwest Oregon/northern California subspecies to consider.  The white-edged tertials (wing feathers lying across the middle of his back) and large, bold rows of spots on his wings seemed unusual.  This one also has buffy undertail coverts.  We weren't able to see the extent of white on the underside of his tail.  Towhees' markings can vary somewhat, but this one seemed obviously different from the usual ones around here.  If someone has any insights on towhee subspecies, I'd be interested to know what you think.

Lisa Millbank

[Frank Kolwicz]

Hi, Lisa,

I've no inkling of subspecies of Towhee, but I have a similar bird in my backyard. This male is missing it's outer tail feathers and the first thing I saw was what looked like an all-white tail, then the more extensive bright white wing spots.

Maybe I'll have a chance to photograph it tomorrow and post it here.

Frank
in Monmouth

On 12/5/2021 9:48 PM, Lisa Millbank wrote:
> An unusual male towhee came to the yard today, and we thought he might be one of the interior subspecies which have more extensive white markings than our Pacific subspecies.  There's also the boldly spotted southwest Oregon/northern California subspecies to consider.  The white-edged tertials (wing feathers lying across the middle of his back) and large, bold rows of spots on his wings seemed unusual.  This one also has buffy undertail coverts.  We weren't able to see the extent of white on the underside of his tail.  Towhees' markings can vary somewhat, but this one seemed obviously different from the usual ones around here.  If someone has any insights on towhee subspecies, I'd be interested to know what you think.
>
> Lisa Millbank
>

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