Each fall, usually starting in late July or early August, the Great Salt Lake silently transforms into one of the greatest bird watching spectacles in North America.
Millions of water birds, including a wide variety of shorebirds and waterfowl, stopover on the Great Salt Lake to rest and feed for a few weeks before heading south again on their annual winter pilgrimage.
Yesterday, I took a trip out to the Antelope Island causeway to take in and enjoy the miracle of fall migration on the Great Salt Lake.
Thousands upon thousands of shorebirds and waterfowl dotted the salty waters of the Great Salt Lake, with birds as far as the eye could see in some spots.
The most numerous birds I was able to identify were American avocets, Wilson’s phalaropes, and a wide variety of ducks, but most of the birds were too far away to identify without a spotting scope.
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The Great Salt Lake causeway is one of the best bird watching spots for both shorebirds and waterfowl in Utah and in the western United States during fall migration, and the best time to visit the Great Salt Lake causeway for bird watching is during August and September.
With regards to water level, the Great Salt Lake is at an all-time low so most of the birds are pretty far away from the causeway, but as you get closer to Antelope Island, some water does reach the county roadway and offers a much better view of the migrating birds.
A spotting scope is always recommended for bird watching on the Antelope Island causeway and this year it is needed more than ever due to the drought and receding Great Salt Lake.
Where water used to be adjacent to the causeway just a few years ago, large barren mudflats now exist, pushing the birds further and further away from much of the causeway.
There are still some great birding sights to behold on the causeway despite the receding lake, however, but who knows for how long.
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Too much water keeps getting pulled out of the rivers feeding the Great Salt Lake each year, causing the lake’s impending and unfortunate demise of slowly drying up if Utah’s water consumption isn’t reduced and soon.
It’s a hot topic that has no easy solution for, but one thing is for sure, if we don’t find ways to keep more water in the rivers feeding the Great Salt Lake, this large and salty ecosystem will continue to shrink and so will the migratory bird populations that depend upon it each spring and fall.
The Great Salt Lake causeway is the access point to Antelope Island State Park, and the current fee to access both Antelope Island and the Great Salt Lake causeway is $15 per day per vehicle, but it’s a small price to pay, in my opinion, to view one of nature’s greatest miracles.
Not only does the Great Salt Lake, itself, offer some spectacular birding opportunities, but Antelope Island also has much for the avid bird watcher as well.
If you are a bird watcher or a lover of natural wonders like the Great Salt Lake, I offer you to subscribe to my blog where I photograph and write about some of the spectacular places nature has to offer.
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