The Canyon Towhee is a plain grey Robin sized bird with a reddish-orange crown and an orange rump. When presenting rump first, as in 9776, the orange area is fairly extensive. By contrast, the color in the crown is much more subtle (9758, 9743, 7916). There is an inconspicuous black breast spot (7913, 7753) and some faint black streaking on the breast (9753). The California Towhee is almost identical but restricted to California and the Baja peninsula.