The pine and fir forests, streams and meadows are habitat for a variety of birds and mammals. Pygmy nuthatches, small blue and black birds with brownish caps, can sometime be seen feeding on the female cones of the ponderosa pine. As you walk through the quiet forests you may be alarmed by a loud hammering noise. This is probably a woodpecker searching for its food of insects in an old, dead tree - or it may be creating a hole to nest in. In the summer you may see a Towsend's solitaire, a medium-sized gray bird with a white eye ring, in the fir forest feeding on insects. But in the winter, watch for this bird in the pine and junipers, because at this time of the year the Townsend's solitaire feed on juniper berries. Abert's squirrels are often seen in the pine trees near the picnic area feeding on the pine cones. These dark brown or black tufted-eared squirrels are found only where there are ponderosa pines, because they depend on the pines for feeding and nesting. Abert's squirrels do not cache food for the winter like other squirrels. Rather, in the winter, they feed on the inner bark of pine twigs. Mule deer, coyotes, cottontail rabbits and yellow-bellied marmots also call Betasso Preserve home.