---
title: "California Towhee"
description: "Melozone crissalis — Uccelli. The California towhee (Melozone crissalis) is a bird of the family Passerellidae, native to the coastal regions of western Oregon and California in the United States and Baja California and Baja California Sur in Mexico."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/california-towhee
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# California Towhee

> Melozone crissalis — Uccelli. The California towhee (Melozone crissalis) is a bird of the family Passerellidae, native to the coastal regions of western Oregon and California in the United States and Baja California  and Baja California Sur in Mexico.

- Scientific name: *Melozone crissalis*
- Category: `birds` (Uccelli)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 61571
- Wikidata: [Q3178443](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3178443)
- iNaturalist taxon: [73044](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/73044)

## Names

- en: California Towhee
- de: Kalifornische Grundammer
- es: Rascador Californiano
- fr: Tohi de Californie
- nl: Californische towie
- pl: Ziemnołuszcz kalifornijski

## Countries with the most observations

US (56870), MX (1120)

## Summary

The California towhee (Melozone crissalis) is a bird of the family Passerellidae, native to the coastal regions of western Oregon and California in the United States and Baja California  and Baja California Sur in Mexico.
The taxonomy of this species has been debated. At the higher level, some authors place the towhees in the family Fringillidae. Within the group, there has been debate about whether the distinction between this species and the similar canyon towhee (Melozone fuscus) should be at the specific or subspecific level. The two species used to be grouped together as the brown towhee, yet today they are identified…

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

## Photo

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

Photo: jubileej · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/286951432

## Machine access

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