Bird
Eastern Towhee
Pipilo erythrophthalmus
Lives in Florida all year and nests here. Found in all 67 counties, across 18 habitats.
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 18

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- All year
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 18
- Habitat models
- Summer, Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Florida 18
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.



Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.
Dense, evergreen groves of live oak, magnolia and other hardwoods in the southern Coastal Plain, from dry oak domes to wet hydric hammocks and south Florida's tropical hammocks; salt-shaped maritime hammocks are maritime forests.
Open, wet, seepage-fed bogs of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, often with pitcher plants.
Disturbed and introduced wetlands
Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.
Forests and open woodlands on dry ridges and slopes, often oak or pine.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.
Evergreen scrub oaks, sand pine and rosemary on deep, white, drought-prone sand ridges, burned rarely but intensely; distinct from the longleaf and turkey oak sandhills.
Salt-pruned forests and shrub thickets behind coastal dunes.
Forests on moist but not wet ground, such as rich slopes and ravines.
Flat, sandy Coastal Plain pine woodlands, wetter than sandhills and denser than savannas.
Open, fire-kept longleaf pine stands over grasses and wildflowers on wet to moist sandy soil.
Dense evergreen shrub wetlands and bay forests on wet, acid peat of the Coastal Plain.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Dry, deep-sand ridges with longleaf pine and turkey oak, kept open by fire.
Tree plantations and managed pine
Planted or intensively managed stands of pine or hardwoods grown for timber; a land use rather than a natural community.
Other habitats in its models (99)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Florida.
- Developed, Low Intensity Summer and winter.
- Central and Southern Appalachian Northern Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Limestone Forest Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Hardwood Modifier Summer and winter.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest-Hardwood Modifier Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Juniper Modifier Summer and winter.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer and winter.
- Ridge and Valley Calcareous Valley Bottom Glade and Woodland Summer and winter.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest - Xeric Summer and winter.
- Southern Interior Low Plateau Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Dry Upland Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest Summer and winter.
- Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Hardwood Summer and winter.
- Central and Southern Appalachian Montane Oak Forest Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Bluff Forest Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loess Bluff Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry and Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer and winter.
- South Florida Pine Rockland Summer and winter.
- Southern Piedmont Mesic Forest Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Mesic Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Maritime Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Maritime Forest Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Hardwood Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Hardwood Modifier Summer and winter.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Virginia/Pitch Pine Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Loblolly Pine Modifier Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Dry Upland Hardwood Forest - Offsite Pine Modifier Summer and winter.
- Allegheny-Cumberland Dry Oak Forest and Woodland - Pine Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest - Pine modifier Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-Heath Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer and winter.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
- Southeastern Interior Longleaf Pine Woodland Summer and winter.
- Central Appalachian Oak and Pine Forest Summer and winter.
- Appalachian Hemlock-Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
- Southern Ridge and Valley Dry Calcareous Forest Summer and winter.
- Central Appalachian Pine-Oak Rocky Woodland Summer and winter.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Cove Forest Summer and winter.
- South-Central Interior Mesophytic Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood and Mixed Forest Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer and winter.
- Florida Longleaf Pine Sandhill - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-Line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Loblolly Modifier Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Open Understory Modifier Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Loblolly Modifier Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Open Understory Modifier Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Scrub/Shrub Modifier Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland Summer and winter.
- Southern Appalachian Montane Pine Forest and Woodland Summer and winter.
- Southern Appalachian Low Mountain Pine Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer and winter.
- Central and Southern Appalachian Spruce-Fir Forest Summer and winter.
- Southern Piedmont Glade and Barrens Summer and winter.
- Nashville Basin Limestone Glade Summer and winter.
- Cumberland Sandstone Glade and Barrens Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Summer and winter.
- Southern Appalachian Grass and Shrub Bald - Shrub Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Appalachian Grass and Shrub Bald - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
- Arkansas Valley Prairie and Woodland Summer and winter.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dune and Swale Summer and winter.
- Recently Logged Areas Summer and winter.
- Harvested Forest - Grass/Forb Regeneration Summer and winter.
- Recently Burned Summer and winter.
- Recently Burned Forest Summer and winter.
- Recently Burned Grassland Summer and winter.
- Recently Burned Shrubland Summer and winter.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Shrub Summer and winter.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Forbland Summer and winter.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Summer and winter.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland and Forbland Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Pine Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Clethra Modifier Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Peatland Pocosin Summer and winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Summer and winter.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Taxodium/Nyssa Modifier Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Oak Dominated Modifier Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland Summer and winter.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Bog and Fen Summer and winter.
- Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Piedmont/Ridge and Valley Upland Depression Swamp Summer and winter.
- Central Appalachian Floodplain - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- Southern Piedmont Large Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer and winter.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer and winter.
- Mississippi River Riparian Forest Summer and winter.
- Cumberland Riverscour Summer and winter.
- Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Summer and winter.
- Southern Piedmont Small Floodplain and Riparian Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest Summer and winter.
- South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Plain Dry Flatwoods - Open Understory Modifier Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer and winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loblolly-Hardwood Flatwoods Summer and winter.
- For forest classes treated as secondary habitat, the model selects edges; primary forest classes can include interiors.
Seasons in Florida
- Year-round: nests here, in all 67 counties.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 984
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Florida. Shared habitat, not food.
- Ludwigia spathulataLudwigia spathulata
- Lyonia fruticosaLyonia fruticosa
- Matelea alabamensisMatelea alabamensis
- Loose Water-milfoilMyriophyllum laxum
- Najas filifoliaNajas filifolia
- PeppervineNekemias arborea
- Fragrant Water-lilyNymphaea odorata
- Water TupeloNyssa aquatica
- Golden-clubOrontium aquaticum
- Cinnamon FernOsmundastrum cinnamomeum
- SourwoodOxydendrum arboreum
- Dotted SmartweedPersicaria punctata
- Pinguicula primulifloraPinguicula primuliflora
- Shortleaf PinePinus echinata
- Planer-treePlanera aquatica
- PickerelweedPontederia cordata
- Carolina Laurel CherryPrunus caroliniana
- Wild CoffeePsychotria nervosa
- White OakQuercus alba
- Quercus chapmaniiQuercus chapmanii
- Southern Red OakQuercus falcata
- Scrub OakQuercus inopina
- Dwarf Live OakQuercus minima
- Shumard OakQuercus shumardii
Wildlife 286
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Florida. Not sighting records.
- American CrowCorvus brachyrhynchos
- Common GrackleQuiscalus quiscula
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Cooper's HawkAccipiter cooperii
- Eastern KingbirdTyrannus tyrannus
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Red-tailed HawkButeo jamaicensis
- Red-winged BlackbirdAgelaius phoeniceus
- Turkey VultureCathartes aura
- Yellow-breasted ChatIcteria virens
- American GoldfinchCarduelis tristis
- European StarlingSturnus vulgaris
- Northern CardinalCardinalis cardinalis
- Northern MockingbirdMimus polyglottos
- Sharp-shinned HawkAccipiter striatus
- Yellow-rumped WarblerDendroica coronata
- American RobinTurdus migratorius
- Chimney SwiftChaetura pelagica
- Common YellowthroatGeothlypis trichas
- Great Crested FlycatcherMyiarchus crinitus
- Mourning DoveZenaida macroura
- Northern FlickerColaptes auratus
- Fish CrowCorvus ossifragus
- Purple FinchCarpodacus purpureus
NatureServe Explorer, CC BY 4.0. USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP winter habitat model for Eastern Towhee
- USGS Gap Analysis Project range maps (2001), modeled by watershed; migratory gives no dates
- NatureServe Explorer (CC BY 4.0), habitat names
- US Census TIGER/Line counties
- Names follow the USGS Gap Analysis Project (2001)







































