Editing Canyon towhee

{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Canyon towhee
| image = Pipilo fuscus2.jpg
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |author-link=BirdLife International |year= 2021 |title= ''Melozone fusca'' |page= e.T22721331A138530434 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T22721331A138530434.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref>
| genus = Melozone
| species = fusca
| authority = ([[William Swainson|Swainson]], 1827)
| synonyms = *''Melozone fuscus''<br>*''Pipilo fuscus''
| range_map = Melozone fusca map.svg

}}
[[File:CanyonTowhee-1MAY2017.jpg|alt=Canyon Towhee|thumb|226x226px|Canyon towhee in Cochise County, Arizona]]

The '''canyon towhee''' ('''''Melozone fusca''''') is a [[bird]] of the family [[Passerellidae]].  Until 1989, the canyon towhee and the [[California towhee]] were considered to be a single species which was called the '''brown towhee'''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=American Ornithologists' Union |title=Thirty-seventh Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds |journal=Auk |date=1989 |volume=109 |pages=532–538}}</ref>

==Taxonomy==
The taxonomy of the group of [[towhee]]s to which this species belongs is debated. At the higher level, some authors place the towhees in the family [[Fringillidae]]{{Citation needed|reason=I can find no major source that list towhees were ever thought to be anything other than sparrows|date=September 2021}}. Within the [[genus]], there has been dispute about whether the canyon towhee is a distinct species from the [[California towhee]] (''Melozone crissalis'') found in coastal regions from [[Oregon]] and [[California]] in the United States through [[Baja California]] in Mexico.  At present, [[molecular genetics]] seems to have settled this issue in favour of separation of the species.

==Description==
It is {{cvt|19|to|25|cm|in}} long, and has a noticeably long tail, at {{cvt|8.2|to|11|cm|in}}.<ref name="Byers">''Sparrows and Buntings: A Guide to the Sparrows and Buntings of North America and the World'' by Clive Byers & Urban Olsson. Houghton Mifflin (1995). {{ISBN|978-0395738733}}.</ref> This species weighs from {{cvt|36.5|to|67|g|oz|frac=4}}, though on average weigh only around {{ cvt|45|g|oz|frac=4}}.<ref name = "CRC">''CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses'' by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), {{ISBN|978-0-8493-4258-5}}.</ref> Among standard measurements, the [[Wing chord (biology)|wing chord]] is {{cvt|8.2|to|10.1|cm|in}}, the [[Beak|bill]] is {{cvt|1.4|to|1.7|cm|in}} and the [[Tarsus (skeleton)|tarsus]] is {{cvt|2.3|to|2.7|cm|in}}.<ref name="Byers"/> It is earthy brown in color, with somewhat lighter underparts and a somewhat darker head with a rufous cap (except that birds in central Mexico have the cap the same color as the back); there is also a slightly reddish area beneath the tail. There is little [[sexual dimorphism]].

==Distribution and habitat==
[[Image:Canyon Towhee.jpg|thumb|left|Notice the natural camouflage.]]

The towhee is native to lower-lying areas from [[Arizona]], southern [[Colorado]], New Mexico and western [[Texas]] south to northwestern [[Oaxaca (state)|Oaxaca]], Mexico, mostly avoiding the coasts.  Its natural habitat is brush or [[chaparral]].

==Behavior==
The towhee feeds on the ground or in low scrub rather than in the tree canopy.  Near human habitation, it is often seen in parking lots, where it feeds on insects on the cars' grilles and takes cover under the cars when disturbed.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Melozone fusca}}
*{{cite journal|author1=Zink, R. M. |author2=Dittmann, D. L.|title=Evolution of brown towhees—mitochondrial-DNA evidence|journal=[[Condor (journal)|The Condor]]|volume=93 |year=1991|pages=98–105|doi=10.2307/1368611|issue=1|publisher=Cooper Ornithological Society|jstor=1368611}}
*Johnson, R. R., and L. T. Haight. 1996. Canyon Towhee (''Pipilo fuscus''). In ''The Birds of North America, No. 264'' (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.
*{{cite book|author1=Howell, Steve N. G.|author2=Sophie Webb|title=A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1995|isbn=0-19-854012-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/guidetobirdsofme0000howe}}

==External links==
*[http://birdfotos.com/birdfoto/towhee/canyon1.htm Page with photographs and recording from birdfotos.com]
*[http://www.naturesongs.com/paruicte.html#embe North American Bird Sounds—Parulidae through Icteridae] with recordings and a link to a photograph.
{{Melozone}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q3180746}}

[[Category:Melozone|canyon towhee]]
[[Category:Birds of Mexico]]
[[Category:Fauna of the Chihuahuan Desert]]
[[Category:Native birds of the Southwestern United States]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1827|canyon towhee]]
[[Category:Taxa named by William Swainson]]