Birds
Spotted towhee
A large sparrow with red eyes that scratches through leaf litter under thick shrubs.
Dark-eyed junco
A ground-foraging sparrow with a stout pink bill and many regional color forms.
NPS describes the dark-eyed junco as a medium-sized sparrow, 5.6 to 6.3 inches long, with a rounded head, stout pink bill and relatively long tail. It has a huge range of geographic color variations; in the Bryce Canyon area the most commonly seen is the red-backed form.
Juncos breed in coniferous or mixed-coniferous forest and forage by hopping around the bases of trees and shrubs for fallen seeds. NPS notes that forms range from the slate-colored junco of the eastern United States to the dark-hooded 'Oregon' junco with rufous flanks, plus white-winged, pink-sided and gray-headed forms.
These forms are not separate species, and the park's common form is not necessarily the one you will see elsewhere in Utah. Look for the pink bill and the ground-feeding habit, and compare more than one feature when you try to name a form.
How to recognize it
Medium sparrow with a pink bill, long tail and a regional pattern of dark hood or red back.
Watching and staying safe
Watch the ground under trees and shrubs from the trail.
Places the sources name
Related profiles
File photo: Mule deer beside and crossing a paved road at Bryce Canyon (2016-09-19 01:15). Photo: Donald Hobern from Copenhagen, Denmark · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Mammals
Mule deer
Found across Utah, from high mountains to city neighborhoods, and named for its large, mule-like ears.
File photo: Elk at Hardware Ranch, Utah, January 2011. Photo: runt35 · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Mammals
Rocky Mountain elk
Utah's state mammal, best known for the fall bugling of bulls during the rut.
File photo: A bull moose among rocks and low vegetation at Cecret Lake (2012-07-25). Photo: BBernardicius · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Mammals
Moose
The largest member of the deer family in Utah, at home where northern mountain forest meets water.