Author: BrantaMedia.Com

_{This YouTube video was produced by the American Bird Conservancy.}

Although it resembles the more numerous and widely distributed Field Sparrow of the United States, the rare and Endangered Worthen’s Sparrow is restricted to the arid open lands of Mexico’s Chihuahuan Desert, where it times its nesting to the yearly patterns of rainfall. Though it’s not considered a migratory species, the Worthen’s Sparrow tends to wander in search of water and other resources after the nesting season, joining mixed-species flocks of Vesper, Brewer’s, Clay-colored, and Black-throated Sparrows and Western Bluebirds.

As with many other threatened and endangered species, the Worthen’s

_{This YouTube video was produced by the American Bird Conservancy.}

Considered sacred by several Mesoamerican civilizations, the Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) remains culturally significant to this day. The Resplendent Quetzal likely inspired Quetzalcoatl, the “plumed serpent” god of Mesoamerica. Legend has it that Quetzalcoatl helped create Earth. Rulers and nobility wore headdresses made from this quetzal’s shining green feathers, which symbolically connected them to the god.

In some Mesoamerican cultures, it was considered a crime to kill a quetzal, so the plumes were procured by capturing the bird, plucking its long tail feathers, and setting it free. In several Mesoamerican