Abert's Towhee
Melozone aberti
About This Species
Look for this towhee scratching through leaf litter beneath dense mesquite and riparian thickets along desert washes in the arid Southwest, rarely straying into the open. Its presence is often given away before it's seen, by a sharp, explosive "peek" call from cover. It stays resident year-round, so any season works, though early morning activity near water sources in summer heat offers the best chance of a clear look.
Ethical Viewing Guidelines
- Stay back far enough to let it keep foraging naturally; if it stops and freezes or retreats deeper into cover, you're too close and should give ground.
- Native birds are protected from killing, capture, and nest disturbance under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in the US and equivalent Mexican wildlife law across its range, so avoid handling, nest approach, or flushing birds from thick brush.
- Keep to trails and avoid trampling the dense understory it depends on.
LCAvesPasseriformesPasserellidae
Seasonal Activity
541,470 sightings · 2000–2026
Citizen science records via GBIF
All monthsThis month
Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Passerellidae
Photo
Wikimedia Commons / Wikimedia Commons
CC-BY-SA-4.0
Occurrence data from GBIF.