Bird Watching On The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge In October – What To Expect

It’s the second week in October and we are already experiencing some dramatic changes to our weather here in Utah, some that might affect the bird watching opportunities on the Bear River Bird Refuge for the near future.

A hard freeze warning has been issued tonight for much of northern Utah, including the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.

It’s not unheard of for freezing nighttime temperatures to hit Utah like this in early October, but it’s not common either this time of year.

The refuge water is too warm to freeze this early in the season, but these frigid temperatures could signal some of the fair-weather birds to pack up and head south for the winter.

I took some time today to drive around the auto tour route to see how things are evolving this time of year on the refuge.

Soon most of the summer breeding birds will be gone, like the Clark’s and western grebes, which are still plentiful on the south side of the auto loop, by the way.

And more of the winter-type birds are most definitely on their way to the refuge with this onset of colder temperatures up north, including the tundra swans and rough-legged hawks, both of which offer some great winter birding and photography opportunities.

Visiting the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in October is oftentimes unpredictable.

Sometimes, like this year, most of the shorebirds and other water birds are already gone due to the drought.

Waterfowl are usually plentiful to enjoy, especially a large variety of ducks that visit the refuge to feed and rest for a few weeks or more.

This year, however, with how bad the drought has been and how much of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge has been dry all summer, the numbers of ducks and geese I usually see this time of year are way down.

And being October, it is duck hunting season so there is a lot of vehicle traffic on the auto tour route and boat traffic on the refuge impoundments this time of year that does indeed affect birding and photography efforts.

Personally, this really doesn’t affect me at all but some birders and nature photographers do have a hard time with hunting.

And this traffic only tends to increase until late in the year when the refuge freezes over for winter and most of the ducks head south for the season.

I actually don’t visit the Bear River Bird Refuge as much during October and November as I do during the rest of the year, but not because of the increased traffic on the auto tour route.

With most of the shorebirds gone and not much new moving in, except for ducks, I find it’s quite repetitive from a bird-watching standpoint, so I bide my time until winter gets here and the bald eagles, rough-legged hawks, herring gulls, and other winter birds arrive on the refuge.

This time of year, the auto tour route does start to get a bit rutted and muddy when we get wet weather, which we have had the past few days.

That is another reason I tend to limit my trips to the refuge until the gravel road freezes, less mud on my vehicle.

Great blue herons are still commonly found on the refuge auto tour route this time of year, but they aren’t as willing to sit and pose for the camera as they are during other times of the year, most likely from the increased vehicle traffic.

All in all, October is the best time of year to see large flocks of ducks on the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.

During normal water years, it is quite impressive to see such large flocks of ducks on the Bear River Bird Refuge, but unfortunately, I think this year won’t be as impressive as in years past due to the drought here in the western United States.

Honestly, October is not my favorite month to visit the refuge, not even close.

I think of it as a “transition” month where most of the summer birds have left and we are still waiting for the winter birds to arrive.

November is when the tundra swans start to migrate through and December is when the rough-legged hawks start to arrive.

It might sound odd, but late December through early February is one of my favorite times to visit the refuge for bird watching and winter photography.

The traffic is almost non-existent and even though the bird numbers are way down that time of year, the interactions and scenes that play out are just incredible, to say the least.

So, in a nutshell, October is a month where I visit the Bear River Bird Refuge only a couple times or so.

But it’s also a time when I am anxiously waiting for winter to get here and enjoy the sights and sounds on the refuge when nature is at its most serene, most intimate with the avid bird watcher.

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