Listen to the spotted towhee
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
About the spotted towhee
The spotted towhee is a bird in the family Passerellidae (order Passeriformes). Its conservation status on the IUCN Red List is “least concern”.
What does the spotted towhee sound like?
Bird vocalisations are usually divided into songs – longer, often complex phrases used to defend territory and attract mates, sung mostly by males in the breeding season – and calls: short, simple sounds for contact, alarm, begging or flight.
The recordings here are labelled as song and call. Listen for differences in rhythm, pitch and repetition – the spectrum display makes it easy to see whether a sound is a pure whistle (a thin line), a harsh call (a broad band) or a trill (rapid repeated marks).
From Wikipedia
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 Another outdated name for the spotted towhee is the Oregon towhee (particularly for the subspecies Pipilo maculatus oregonus).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.
Related birds in the genus Pipilo
More from the family Passerellidae
Dark-eyed junco
Junco hyemalis
White-crowned sparrow
Zonotrichia leucophrys
White-throated sparrow
Zonotrichia albicollis
Rufous-collared sparrow
Zonotrichia capensis
American tree sparrow
Spizelloides arborea
Savannah sparrow
Passerculus sandwichensis
Fox sparrow
Passerella iliaca
Chipping sparrow
Spizella passerina
Lincoln's sparrow
Melospiza lincolnii
Tanager finch
Oreothraupis arremonops
Swamp sparrow
Melospiza georgiana
Frequently asked questions
What does a spotted towhee sound like?
You can hear 6 recordings of the spotted towhee on this page, including its song and call. Bird vocalisations are usually divided into songs – longer, often complex phrases used to defend territory and attract mates, sung mostly by males in the breeding season – and calls: short, simple sounds for contact, alarm, begging or flight.
Is the spotted towhee endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the spotted towhee as “least concern”.
What family does the spotted towhee belong to?
The spotted towhee (Pipilo maculatus) belongs to the family Passerellidae in the order Passeriformes.
Sources & credits
- Song · Los Gatos, Santa Clara County, California, United States by Peter Wilton – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Call · Hunter Canyon, Cochise County, Arizona, United States by Diana Doyle – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Song · Oak Draw Rd, Custer State Park, South Dakota, United States by Jonathon Jongsma – CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Song · Prairie Trail, Custer State Park, South Dakota, United… by Jonathon Jongsma – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Call · Arteaga, Coahuila de Zaragoza, Mexico by Leonardo Guzman Hernandez – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Song · Bishop, Mono County, California, United States by radrat – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q1586862 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Spotted towhee – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo by Vickie J Anderson – CC BY-SA 4.0