Bird Guide

Cabanis's Ground Sparrow vs White-throated Towhee

Cabanis's Ground Sparrow (Melozone cabanisi)

Cabanis's Ground Sparrow

Melozone cabanisi

Small28 gShrubland

Cabanis's ground sparrow is about 15 cm (5.9 in) long. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a black forecrown. The rest of their crown and their ear coverts are chestnut or chestnut-rufous; the latter have a thin U-shaped black line around their bottom half. They have white lores, a white eye-ring, and white cheeks, chin, and throat with a thin black "moustache". Their back, scapulars, rump, uppertail coverts, wings, and tail are olive or olive-brown, though their nape, upper back, and lesser wing coverts are somewhat grayish. Voice: The song of Cabanis's ground sparrow is "a high, thin, staccato sputter, a buzzy note, and/or a slow trill followed by 3-4 clear, forceful whistles: Pst-t-t-t peee-peer-peer, bzeew whee-whee-whee, or bzeew tow-hewhewhewhe peer-peer-peer-pee". Its calls include "weak, high, staccato, tsit notes", a sharp whistled "pseee psee psee", and a "sharp, thin pseeer".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Forest Botial-Jarvis · CC BY 4.0
White-throated Towhee (Melozone albicollis)

White-throated Towhee

Melozone albicollis

Small46 gShrubland

The white-throated towhee is a large sparrow with a long tail, 18.5 to 22.5 cm (7.3 to 8.9 in) long and weighing 42 to 50 g (1.5 to 1.8 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a brown crown and nape. They have a white supercilium to the eye, some whitish below the eye, and a blackish stripe on the cheek. The rest of their face is brown above and chestnut below. Their upperparts and tail are brown. Their wing is mostly brown with white on the median coverts that shows as two wing bars. Their chin is white and their throat rusty cinnamon with white under it. Voice: The white-throated towhee's song is described as "very high warbling...strident in places, accelerating and rising in pitch in phrases includes --pirrup-pirrup-pirrup--". Another description is "a series of chipping notes with one or more introductory notes, chik chik tchu-chu-chu-chu chi-i-ir". Its call is "a slurred metallic churenk".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: datadan · CC BY 4.0

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Cabanis's Ground Sparrow and White-throated Towhee.