As you hike through desert brush, fabulous flashes of red feathers catch your eye. A closer look reveals a little bird singing a sweet tune, as it flits through a scrappy patch of mesquite. Though its body is a drab grey, it sports a showy red crest and stout, golden bill, making it resemble a female cardinal. But this bird shouldn’t be confused with its more flamboyant relative. Who is this desert native?
Pyrrhuloxia calls provided courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library.