1.YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, California Located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Yosemite provides a year-round home for Steller’s jay, which lives nearly exclusively in mountain pine forests. One unusual bird here is the gray-crowned rosy-finch, which forages in the inhospitable, snow-laden mountains. Calliope hummingbirds nest in pine trees and sip nectar from Indian paintbrush, columbine and larkspur in meadows.
2. CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS, Arizona Part of the Coronado National Forest, the Chiricahuas provide habitats for plants and animals found nowhere else in the U.S. Specialties include the elegant trogon, painted redstart and magnificent hummingbird, which frequent canyons. Take a drive over the mountaintops through a ponderosa pine forest from April to November to look for high-elevation species including red-faced warbler and Mexican chickadee.
3. BIGHORN MOUNTAINS, Bighorn National Forest, Wyoming Native grasslands…
