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Abert's Towhee
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Abert's Towhee
Melozone aberti
The Abert's towhee (Melozone aberti) is a bird of the family Emberizidae, native to a small range in southwestern North America, generally the lower Colorado River and Gila River watersheds, nearly endemic to Arizona, but also present in small parts of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Sonora in Mexico. The name of this bird commemorates the American ornithologist James William Abert (1820–1897).
From the article Abert's towhee on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Range & habitat
This bird is common in brushy riparian habitats in the Lower Sonoran desert zone and prefers to stay well-hidden under bushes. Though threatened by cowbird nest parasitism and habitat loss, it has successfully colonized suburban environments in the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area and may be fairly easily seen on the campus of Arizona State University. Despite its limited range, it is classified as a species of Least Concern in the IUCN Redlist, and there has been some range expansion along the Santa Cruz River as well as in Oak Creek Canyon near Sedona.
Wikipedia: “Habitat”
What it does
Abert's towhees usually forage on the ground among dense brush for seeds, but they also incorporate insects into their diet. Like other towhees, they scratch at the ground in a manner similar to quail, and will sometimes dig up and eat grubs. They can be attracted to feeders by providing cracked corn on the ground.
Wikipedia: “Feeding”
Listen
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Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
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Every page naming Melozone aberti in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 73041.