---
title: "Spotted Towhee"
description: "Pipilo maculatus — Birds. The spotted towhee (Pipilo maculatus) is a large New World sparrow."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/spotted-towhee
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Spotted Towhee

> Pipilo maculatus — Birds. The spotted towhee (Pipilo maculatus) is a large New World sparrow.

- Scientific name: *Pipilo maculatus*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `forest` (Forest)
- iNaturalist observations: 79800
- Wikidata: [Q1586862](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1586862)
- iNaturalist taxon: [9420](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/9420)

## Names

- en: Spotted Towhee
- de: Fleckengrundammer
- es: Rascador Moteado
- fr: Tohi tacheté
- nl: Gevlekte towie
- pl: Pipil czarnogrzbiety

## Countries with the most observations

US (57487), CA (14528), MX (3119), GT (26)

## Summary

The spotted towhee (Pipilo maculatus) is a large New World sparrow. The taxonomy of the towhees has been debated in recent decades, and until 1995 this bird and the eastern towhee were considered a single species, then named rufous-sided towhee. Another outdated name for the spotted towhee is the Oregon towhee (particularly for the subspecies Pipilo maculatus oregonus). The call may be harsher and more varied than for the eastern towhee.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_towhee

## Photo

![Spotted Towhee](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/spotted-towhee/medium.jpg)

Photo: Ben · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/363565602

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/spotted-towhee?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).