Canyon Towhee, Melozone fusca

Canyon Towhee, Melozone fusca. Photograph taken within a residential community in Alamos, Sonora, November 2019. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

Canyon Towhee, Melozone fusca. Bird photographed in the greater Mexico City area, March 2021. Photograph and identification courtesy of Marina Sutormina, Stockholm, Sweden.

The Canyon Towhee, Melozone fusca, is one of ten subspecies of Canyon Towhee, nine of which are found in Mexico. They are a member of the Passerellidae Family of New World Sparrows, which has one hundred thirty-two members placed in thirty genera, and is one of three global species of the Melozone Genus. They are known in Mexico as toquí pardo.

The Canyon Towhee is sparrow-shaped and large in stature. They are not sexually dimorphic, with males and females being similar in appearance. They are brown in color with a rufous crown and light throat outlined ventrally with darker markings and a dark crest spot and buff undertail-covert. Their bill has a dusky mandible with a pale brown lower section and is pale at the base; their iris is light brown to dull hazel, and their legs are light brown or pinkish with darker toes.

The Canyon Towhee is found within low vegetation and on the ground in all habitats including desert grasslands to remote, rough, and rocky terrain with scattered dense shrubs; they are absent from heavily settled urban areas and wet riparian forests at elevations up to 2,500 m (8,200 feet). They are sedentary permanent residents. They are highly adaptive and can be shy, are seldom seen, being found mostly in rugged remote areas or as a backdoor human associate. They primarily consume insects and small seeds. They have life spans of up to seven years. The Canyon Towhee has been the subject of numerous studies over the last forty years, however, very little has been documented about their biology and behavioral patterns.

In Mexico the Canyon Towhee is found in all interior regions south to Oaxaca, being absent from the coastal regions of both the Atlantic and Pacific Slopes with the exception of a presence in the coastal areas of central and southern Sonora.

From a conservation perspective the Canyon Towhee is currently considered to be of Least Concern, with stable, widely-distributed populations. Their populations do not appear to be strongly affected by habitat destruction by human development. They are known to visit bird feeders.