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Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Auto Tour Route Updates

This page reflects our most recent trip around the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge auto tour route, including what birds we saw, the road conditions, and other stuff that might be helpful to anyone considering visiting the refuge.

Our goal is to drive the auto loop once per week whenever possible and report here on what we experienced.

September 24, 2026

The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge auto tour route has been closed most of the summer due to construction on some of the concrete structures along the roadway, leaving the unit high and dry during that time.

Recently, as the construction winds down, the auto loop was reopened and water was allowed to flow once again in Unit 2, but it will take a few days for the wetlands to fill up, meaning birdwatching has been super slow once the loop has been available to drive again.

I drove the auto tour route today and hardly saw a bird through the first half of the 12-mile drive, but once I arrived on the south end, a few birds started to be found in random places.

Birds I saw today included American white pelicans, Clark’s grebe, cormorant, a variety of gulls, great blue herons, ruddy ducks, American avocets, northern harriers, snowy egrets, great egrets, swallows, red-winged blackbirds, and a few undetermined ducks too far out on the open water to identify.

Refuge personnel were grading the roadway, so there were smooth and some bumpy areas, but overall I found the drive fairly easy in a car.

Water is flowing in the northern canal that parallels the auto route but has not been allowed to enter unit 2c, the northwest corner of the auto loop, due to a prescribed burn scheduled for tomorrow, causing the auto loop to be closed to public access during the burn, to clear out dead phragmites as part of their ongoing habitat efforts to restore native wetland vegetation to the refuge.

Below are a few images taken from today’s drive around the refuge auto tour route.

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Photo and Video Gallery From Today’s Drive Around The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Auto Tour Route

The red-winged blackbirds were singing like it was springtime on parts of the refuge auto tour route yesterday.

(For short nature photography tips and interesting stories about the natural world around us, subscribe to our Bear River Blogger channel on YouTube for videos and updates from our travels while out in nature, both on and off of the famed Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.)

Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge auto tour route — *(The start of the auto loop with water now flowing in the canal but not going into some of the northern units just yet due to a controlled burn and remaining construction work.)*

great blue heron on the bear river migratory bird refuge auto tour route — *(Almost no birds were found for the first half of the drive, but I did see this great blue heron in a small pocket of water seeping into unit 2c.)*

bear river migratory bird refuge with water in it — *(As I made my way around the west portion of the loop, water was filling the south end of the unit.)*

road grader on the bear river migratory bird refuge auto tour route — *(Today, the refuge was grading the auto tour loop.)*

cows and gulls on the bear river migratory bird refuge auto tour route — *(Cows grazing were found on both the north and east legs of the refuge auto tour route, and are part of their ongoing habitat management efforts to curb the phragmites on the refuge.)*

clark's grebe — *(A lone Clark’s grebe was found on the south end of the refuge auto loop today.)*

american avocets resting on a mudflat — *( A handful of American avocets in the winter plumage were found today on the southern end of the auto loop.)*

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