Abert’s Towhee ABTO

click here for auricular study

Abert’s Towhee (ABTO) is predominantly an Arizona bird that’s bigger than a sparrow and smaller than a robin.

It’s range is the southern half of Arizona following the lower Colorado River and Gila River basins.

  We have a good number of them living in the trees surrounding our yard which is located southeast of Phoenix.

Here are 12 different towhees I photographed over a 2 hour time span.

Abert’s vent area is illustrated as orange in field guides, but none of my birds show much color there.

I photographed this bird south of Tucson.

ABTOs are not sexually dimorphic thus mom and dad look the same.

Here is one from my backyard.

Abert’s is one of the friendlier birds in the yard.  If you sit still they will actually get quite close.

Abert’s Towhee is multibrooded (has multiple clutches per season) and it’s nesting ranges from March through July (personal observation).

Two towhees were seen to lay six clutches in one season (Finch, 1984).

Here is an Abert’s Towhee nest.

And when the kids are hungry.

Both mom and dad take care of the kids.

A group of towhees is called a tangle or a teapot.

Abert’s is a ground feeder and easily navigates the underbrush.

I have purposefully piled up tree branches and trimmings for habitat where the towhees love chasing each other.

Brown-headed Cowbird — Chapter 2

Bronzed Cowbird — Chapter 3

Eggs in Parasitized Nest — Chapter 4

Hatchlings — Chapter 5

Abert’s Towhee ABTO auricular study

Abert’s Towhee ABTO meatus

Abert’s Towhee ABTO sonus auricular

Abert’s Towhee ABTO barb spacing

Abert’s Towhee ABTO barb angle

Abert’s Towhee ABTO plucked auriculars

Microscopy @ 50x 150x 300x proximal sonus auricular.

Distal and medial microscopy.

Abert’s Towhee ABTO