You don’t have to be an avid bird watcher to get excited by the chance to see a rare, alpine bird species in the beautiful Ashley National Forest. The Division of Wildlife Resources has paired up with the Forest to host a free rosy-finches bird viewing event coming up in February. The event announcement shares that rosy-finches are typically fairly elusive, but during the winter months, they are easy to spot amongst the white, snowy landscape. Utah is commonly home to two species of rosy-finches: gray-crowned and black. Both can be identified with their pinkish, red wings and brown, black, or gray-mottled bodies and heads, adding a pop of color to an otherwise muted winter landscape. “We don’t know a lot about this bird species, so we’ve been working diligently with other biologists statewide to try and fill in the data gaps,” shares DWR Biologist Brian Maxfield. “Over the past few years, we’ve been able to band and deploy several radio frequency identification tags on the birds’ legs, which helps us detect how often the birds that have been tagged return to the same winter location to feed.” The viewing event is being held on Saturday, February 8th, at 9am. The viewing site is north of Vernal on Highway 191 about 23 miles to the parking lot on the right side of the road off Forest Service Road 217. Participants are asked to register in advance on Eventbrite.
