Petrified Forest National Park: A Place for Birds

Northern harrier hawk flying low over grasslands, with colorful rock layers visible in the distance.

"No other creature can transcend Earth, evoke beauty, inspire dreams, and ground us in nature as does even the smallest bird." —Julie Sacco, Former Director, North Park Village Nature Center, Chicago, Illinois

Small grey bird perched on a piece of petrified wood before a flat landscape. — Rock wren (*Salpinctes obsoletus*). NPS

In Petrified Forest National Park, erosion has carved fantastical forms from the rock and revealed the park's geological history in exposed layers. Within those layers, paleontologists have found the fossilized bones of reptiles that date back to the Triassic period, more than 200 million years ago. These fossils tell the stories of animals long extinct, and of animals that are ancestors of those found in the park today.

Many people may not know that this austere, striking landscape in northern Arizona harbors a diversity of wildlife. The most diverse of all the vertebrates in the park are birds. Please join us as we tell the story of birds in Petrified Forest—from their dinosaur ancestors, to their recognition by ancient peoples, to what we are discovering about them in the park today. Learn how we all can help birds survive in an uncertain future.

Section of a mural set in the late Triassic showing Postosuchus, an ancient crocodile relative, catching a smaller Silesaurus.

The Milky Way above a boulder featuring a petroglyph of a bird holding prey in its long beak. — The Milky Way illuminates a bird petroglyph near the Puerco Pueblo in Petrified Forest National Park. NPS / Jake Holgerson.

Examples of birds depicted in petroglyphs dating back as far as 1800 B.C. are found in what is now Petrified Forest National Park, evidence that it has long been a place for birds.

Yellow bird with grey back and crown, black eyes with yellow eye ring, perched in a shrub.

"If you take care of the birds, you take care of most of the big problems in the world." —Thomas Lovejoy, Conservation Biologist

Brownish sparrow with black throat and white band above its eye and below its cheek, perched on a bare twig. — The black-throated sparrow (*Amphispiza bilineata*) is one of the first summer resident birds to arrive each spring in Petrified Forest National Park. NPS / Andy Bridges.

"You, bird, you will live in the trees and you will fly through the air, you will reach the region of the clouds, you will touch the transparency of the sky and you will not be afraid of falling." —from Popol Vuh, book about ancient Mayan creation story and culture

Brownish bird with iridescent blue back and head, white throat and short beak, flying with tail feathers and wings fully unfurled. — Tree swallow (*Tachycineta bicolor*). NPS / Andy Bridges

Yellow-breasted bird with with white sides speckled with brown and outstretched wings.

"I never for a day gave up listening to the songs of our birds, or watching their peculiar habits, or delineating them in the best way I could." —John J. Audubon, Ornithologist & Artist

Blue bird with black eye and black beak perched on a bare shrub branch. — Mountain bluebird (*Sialia currucoides*) near Tawa Point, Petrified Forest National Park. NPS / Andy Bridges

Two gray-brown birds with white arch above the eyes. One has its beak inside the other bird's open beak.

“Birds are the most popular group in the animal kingdom. We feed them and tame them and think we know them. And yet they inhabit a world which is really rather mysterious.” —Sir David Attenborough, Broadcaster & Naturalist

grey bird with white eye ring, yellow belly and chin perched on a leafy branch. — Northern parula (*Parula americana*) was first recorded in the park in 2018 during both spring and fall migration months. NPS / Andy Bridges.

“...the song of a bird is the echo of a universal symphony.” — John Muir, Naturalist

Orange/yellow bird with black and white wings, perched on a twig of a branch. — Bullock’s oriole (*Icterus bullockii*). NPS / Andy Bridges.

Petrified Forest National Park is committed to bird conservation and invites you to join in the effort. Visit the park to learn about bird migration on World Migratory Bird Day . Join us for the Great Backyard Bird Count or count birds in your own backyard. Count birds along with people around the world on Global Big Day , or take time during the holidays for a Christmas Bird Count . Learning about birds will not only enrich your life, it will help scientists to protect birds for the future.

Thanks for viewing!