The Inyo Brown Towhee (Pipilo fuscus eremophilus) is a relict population of a species that was formerly widespread in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico (Davis 1951). A member of the Crissalis group of subspecies, eremophilus became restricted to mountain areas in the northern Mojave Desert as a result of climatic changes beginning in the Pliocene (Davis 1951). Currently it is known only from the Argus Range of Inyo County, California (Cord and Jehl 1978, contra AOU 1957) (Figure 1). The nearest neighboring population, P. f. carolae (formerly kernensis) occurs 65 km due west in the Walker Basin of the southern Sierra Nevada.
Like all other races of P. fuscus, eremophilus is considered resident (Davis 1951). It was described by Van Rossem (1935) on the basis of specimens he collected at Mountain Spring (1400 m) and Lang Spring (1830 m) in the southern Argus Range, and from a single specimen taken by F. Stephens at “Searle’s Garden” (Fisher 1893).
Because of its limited and largely inaccessible range, which is rarely visited by ornithologists, very little is known about the biology, requirements, or population size of this isolated desert dwelling race. We attempted to gather such data at the request of the Desert Land Plan staff of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.