The green-tailed towhee (Pipilo chlorurus) is the smallest towhee, but is still one of the larger members of the American sparrow family Passerellidae. Its breeding range covers most of the interior Western United States, with a winter range in Mexico and the southern edge of the Southwestern United States. This bird can be recognized by the bright green stripes on the edge of its wings. It has a distinct white throat and a rufous cap. It measures long and weighs . It is fairly tame, but often stays hidden under a bush. It is fairly common in habitats with sagebrush and other such bushes. It is uncommonly seen because of its tendency to stay under cover. References Further reading Book Thesis Beedy EC. Ph.D. (1982). Bird Community Structure in Coniferous Forests of Yosemite National Park, California. University of California, Davis, United States, California. Kerley L. Ph.D. (1994). Bird responses to habitat fragmentation caused by sagebrush management in a Wyoming sagebrush steppe ecosystem. University of Wyoming, United States, Wyoming. Articles Berry ME & Bock CE. (1998). Effects of habitat and landscape characteristics on avian breeding distributions in Colorado foothills shrub. Southwestern Naturalist. vol 43, no 4. pp. 453–461. Bulluck L, Fleishman E, Betrus C & Blair R. (2006). Spatial and temporal variations in species occurrence rate affect the accuracy of occurrence models. Global Ecology and Biogeography. vol 15, no 1. pp. 27–38. Dobbs RC & Martin PR. (2000). Winter nocturnal roost sites and behavior of some desert passerines in western Texas. Western Birds. vol 31, no 2. pp. 120–122. Erickson RA & Wurster TE. (1998). Confirmation of nesting in Mexico for four bird species from the Sierra San Pedro Martir, Baja California. Wilson Bulletin. vol 110, no 1. pp. 118–120. Ewert DN. (1980). Recognition of Conspecific Song by the Rufous-Sided Towhee Pipilo-Erythrophthalmus. Animal Behaviour. vol 28, no 2. pp. 379–386. Garber D. (1969). Green-Tailed Towhee in Racine. Passenger Pigeon. vol 31, no 4. Jehle G, Savidge JA & Kotliar NB. (2006). Green-tailed Towhee response to prescribed fire in montane shrubland. Condor. vol 108, no 3. pp. 634–646. Knopf FL, Sedgwick JA & Inkley DB. (1990). Regional Correspondence among Shrubsteppe Bird Habitats. Condor. vol 92, no 1. pp. 45–53. Martin TE. (1996). Fitness costs of resource overlap among coexisting bird species. Nature. vol 380, no 6572. pp. 338–340. Martin TE. (1998). Are microhabitat preferences of coexisting species under selection and adaptive?. Ecology.