Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia)
A small ground-dwelling bird with no ear tufts, burrowing owls can be found in abandoned ground squirrel or prairie dog burrows in the Red Desert. Found only in the Americas, burrowing owls were first described by a Jesuit priest in Chile in 1782. The Latin word ‘cunicularius’ means mine or miner— an apt description for a bird that makes its home beneath the ground. Burrowing owls are one of the smallest owl species. They weigh only five or six ounces and stand 10 inches high on long, stilt-like legs.

Mountain Plover (Charadrius montanus)
The mountain plover is a medium-sized sandpiper-like bird that breeds in the Red Desert. Despite their name, mountain plovers prefer the short-grass prairies of the western Great Plains to the high peaks. Plover hens lay up to three eggs on bare ground. Gradually, the birds build up a nest of rootlets and grass around the eggs. Pair bonds are fleeting—females sometimes leave the nest to the males so they can lay and incubate another clutch of eggs with a different mate.

Great Basin Spadefoot (Spea intermontana)
The Great Basin Spadefoot is a small, rather rotund, grey or olive-green amphibian. Looking a lot like a large pebble, adult spadefoots are 4 to 6.5 centimeters long with short, stubby limbs. The most distinctive feature is the source of their name: the small, black “spade” on the first toe of each hind foot. This hardened tissue allows them to dig into loose soil for shelter. Spadefoots can spend up to eight months a year underground and can lose up to 48 percent of their body moisture without ill effect. A frightened spadefoot is able to dig itself rapidly into the soil, disappearing from sight in a matter of minutes. Some spadefoot species can gather enough energy from just a few feedings for a year of dormancy.