Pipolo chlorurus

The green-tailed towhee is the smallest of the towhees. It lives in mountain shrub-steppe habitat. Known as a sulker, it often runs on the ground, making it difficult to see. However, males will sing from a prominent perch when establishing breeding territories, proving good views.

This bird sports a red cap on the top of its head with white lores and a white bib under the bill that is bordered by a black and white stripe. The breast is gray and the flanks buffy. The face is gray and the upper parts are an olive green. The wings and tail are edged in yellow-olive.

The green-tailed towhee is a ground feeder that forages by using a double scratch with its feet. It eats seeds, fruit and insects and their larvae. This towhee is easily overlooked in the underbrush.

They are a monogamous and solitary breeder. The female builds the nest on the ground, usually under a sage shrub. She incubates two to five eggs for 11-13 days. Altricial young (born with their eyes closed, naked and helpless) fledge within 12 days. Both sexes feed the young.

This neotropical migrant is vulnerable to habitat loss through development. Its range is throughout the Intermountain West, westward into California. It migrates into Mexico for winter.

Bill Fenimore, owner of the Layton Wild Bird Center, www.wildbird.com/layton, author of the Backyard Birds of Utah and member of the Utah Wildlife Board.