Breeding Location:
Bushes, shrubs, and thickets, Mountains
Breeding Type:
Monogamous, Solitary nester, Mates for life
Breeding Population:
Egg Color:
Light green or blue with black and brown marks
Number of Eggs:
2 - 6
Incubation Days:
11
Egg Incubator:
Female
Nest Material:
Stems, grass, and sticks., Lined with leaves, bark pieces, and mammal hair.
Migration:
Nonmigratory
Recommended Products:
Overview
Canyon Towhee: Large sparrow, gray upperparts, pale gray underparts, large central breast spot, and white belly patch. Crown is rust-brown. Tail is long with brown undertail coverts. Legs are pink-brown. Short flights with rapidly beating wing strokes alternating with wings pulled briefly to sides.
Range and Habitat
Canyon Towhee: Found in Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas, Colorado and Mexico. Prefers dry hill country and desert canyons.
Breeding and Nesting
Canyon Towhee: Two to six light green or blue eggs with brown and black markings are laid in a cup nest made of stems, grass, and sticks, lined with leaves, bark pieces, and mammal hair, and built in a shrub or tree, usually 3 to 12 feet above the ground. Eggs are incubated for 11 days by the female.
Foraging and Feeding
Canyon Towhee: Eats seeds and insects. Forages by double-scratching on the ground in soil or leaf litter.
Readily Eats
Cracked Corn, Peanuts, Nut Meats
Vocalization
Canyon Towhee: Song is one or two introductory chips followed up by series of accelerating chips, "chili, chili, chili, chili." Call is a nasal slurred "chud-up."
Similar Species
Canyon Towhee: California Towhee has rust-brown crown and grayer upperparts. Abert's Towhee is buff and has black area around bill.
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