General Description: Bushtits (Psaltriparus minimus) are tiny, fluffy gray birds with a stubbly little beaks and long tails. Males have dark eyes, but females have bright yellow eyes. Bushtits usually travel in large, noisy flocks as they forage in shrubs and low trees. Sometimes there is a bit of a brown ear patch.

There are 15 subspecies of Bushtits, but only two or three might be expected in the Las Vegas region:

• P. m. plumbeus – Southwestern deserts. Gray overall.
• P. m. minimus – coastal California. Brown atop the head.
• P. m. californicus – central valleys of California and Oregon

Interior birds are gray overall, while coastal birds have a bit of brown on the top of the head. There is also a form with a black ear patch, but that one is not seen around Las Vegas.

Taxonomy: Passeriformes, Aegithalidae.

Favored Habitat: Brushy desert canyons, Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands.

Where to Find: Bushtits are birds of brushy canyons and lower-elevation woodlands. Look for them at Willow Springs and the other canyons at Red Rocks. When looking for them, they seem to be nowhere, but then turn up everywhere.

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