Birds

At least 231 species of birds are found in the varied habitats of Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. The park is on one of North America's great flyways. A variety of bird species can be sighted year round, especially in the Afterbay where the water just below the dam never freezes.

Sharp-eyed visitors will spot such birds of prey as the robin-sized kestrel, the mighty golden eagle, and that hunter of the night, the great horned owl.

Song sparrows, vesper sparrows, tree sparrows, yellow throats, yellow warblers, lazuli buntings, mountain bluebirds, northern orioles, canyon wrens, house wrens, meadowlarks, Brewer's blackbirds, red-winged blackbirds, lark buntings, and robins fly about.

Insectivorous birds include tree swallows, rough-winged swallows, cliff swallows (their gourd shaped mud nests decorate many cliffs and bridges within the recreation area), night hawks and white-throated swifts.

(Sources include: Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area, Paul Gordon)