GAP Analysis Predicted Distribution Map

Green-tailed Towhee (Pipilo chlorurus)

Species Code: PICH

Legend:
= Core Habitat
= Marginal Habitat

Breeding Range Map
The green area shows the predicted habitats for breeding only. The habitats were identified using 1991 satellite imagery, Breeding Bird Atlas (BBA), other datasets and experts throughout the state, as part of the Washington Gap Analysis Project. Habitats used during non-breeding months and migratory rest-stops were not mapped.

Metadata (Data about data or how the map was made)

Click to enlarge distribution map

Other maps & Information:

Breeding Bird Atlas
NatureMapping observations during breeding season
NatureMapping observations throughout the year

The Green-Tailed Towhee is a local and rare breeder at moderate elevations in steep, shrubby habitat of the Blue Mountains.

This species is limited to the Blue Mountains, and peripheral in the Ponderosa Pine, Grand Fir, and Blue Mountain High Open Conifer zones. (The latter zone is a minor zone unique to the Blue Mountains.) Good habitats were shrub savanna and shrublands.

The Green-tailed Towhee reaches its northernmost range limit in the Blue Mountains of Washington. The small population there is an extension of the population in the adjacent (nearby) Wallowa Mountains of Oregon. Its lone outpost at the Wenatchee Guard Station (Asotin County) has been long known. However, recently the species has been found to the west along the south slopes of the Blue Mountains at Biscuit Ridge, near Dixie (Walla Walla County). There were two confirmed records of breeding during the Breeding Bird Atlas period, both from Walla Walla County. In addition, pairs and territorial birds (probable breeding evidence) were seen in Asotin and Walla Walla Counties. This species utilizes the dry, shrubby hillsides that occur at moderate elevations in the Blue Mountains.

Translated from the Washington Gap Analysis Bird Volume by Uchenna Bright
Text edited by Gussie Litwer
Webpage designed by Dave Lester