Its name is from the Greek phain pepla meaning "shining robe" in reference to the male's plumage.

The phainopepla ranges as far north as central California with the San Joaquin Valley and southern Utah, and south to central Mexico, the interior Mexican Plateau region; the southern edge of the plateau, the transverse mountains is its non-breeding home.

They make loosely constructed nests of twigs, mosses, plant fibers, placed on branches of trees, usually below 20 feet from the ground, in thickets or open woods near water.

[6] The eggs are gray or pink and speckled, and the incubation, done by both the male and female, takes fifteen days.

[7]Phainopeplas have been found to imitate the calls of twelve other species, such as the red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) and the northern flicker (Colaptes auratus).