Birds
The Refuge and other wetlands associated with the Great Salt Lake provide critical habitat for migrating birds from both the Pacific and Central Flyway of North America. This area contains abundant food for birds. Birds come to the Refuge by the millions to eat and rest during migration.
As part of Great Salt Lake, the Refuge is designated as a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network site. The millions of feathered visitors that congregate at the refuge during migration will ultimately spread out over the hemisphere. Recoveries of birds banded at Bear River Refuge have shown that while many remain in the United States, Canada and Mexico, some may fly as far as Russia, Central America, or islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Information Line
Call 435-734-6426 to hear a recording of current birding information.Birds Through the Seasons
Spring
In the spring, Bear River is active with life as birds fly back from the south. There is a continuous flow of different species in and out of the refuge. Each day offers something new. Birds are in their bright and colorful breeding plumage and the observant visitor can witness eons-old courtship rituals. Geese and ducks begin to arrive in early March. Shorebird migration lasts from early April through mid-May.
Summer
While some birds head further north to breed, over 60 species stay at Bear River through the summer to breed and raise their young. Baby birds can be seen as early as May when the Canada goose goslings make their debut. Later in June and July, visitors can view ducklings and young shorebirds such as American avocets and black-necked stilts. In July, the sight of young western grebes riding atop their parents' backs is especially exciting.
Fall
Beginning in July, shorebirds come back through the refuge on their way south and numbers peak in mid-August. Up to a half million ducks and geese concentrate on the refuge units. Over 30,000 tundra swans begin to arrive in mid-October and stay through December.
Winter
From December to March, northern harriers, rough-legged hawks and prairie falcons frequent the marsh, searching the frozen land for prey. Bald eagles use the refuge in the winter for feeding and resting during the day.
Fun Facts
A Few Phenomenal Feathered Facts – Did You Know That…
- Refuge breeding colonies of white-faced ibis contain as many as 18,000 birds.
- Up to 10,000 American avocets breed at the Refuge annually.
- One of North America’s three largest American white pelican breeding colonies, containing in excess of 50,000 birds, is found on Gunnison Island in Great Salt Lake.
- Northern Utah marshes host up to 60 percent of the continental breeding population of cinnamon teal.
- The Great Salt Lake boasts the largest fall staging concentration of Wilson’s phalaropes in the world, at approximately 500,000 birds. Red-necked phalaropes number nearly 100,000.
- The Great Salt Lake area hosts greater than 50 percent of the continental breeding population of snowy plovers.
- The Great Salt Lake area hosts 26 percent of the global population of marbled godwits during migration.
- Bear River Refuge may attract over 65,000 black-necked stilts in the fall, more than anywhere else in the country.
