Is Birdwatching On The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge Still Worth It During Hunting Season?

If you haven’t heard, a new chapter was ushered in today regarding the seasonal cycle of happenings at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, the Utah duck hunting season kicked off at sunrise this morning.

And with the start of waterfowl hunting season comes a big question for birders, what is birdwatching like during hunting season, and is it still worth the time and effort to visit places like the bird refuge auto tour route this time of year?

Well, I have been birdwatching and photographing the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge for decades now and from my experience, including a trip around the auto tour route this very morning, birdwatching and photography are still quite enjoyable during hunting season but they usually aren’t as productive as they are during the rest of the year because of the sharp increase in both human and vehicle traffic on both the auto loop and out in the wetlands that, unfortunately, pushes a lot of birds into areas not visible or accessible by the general public.

In other words, many of the birds leave the auto tour route because, well, there are a lot more humans on the refuge this time of year.

With a description like that you might be wondering why even go birding this time of year but please don’t get me wrong, however, about birding on the refuge during duck hunting season.

It’s not to say there are never any birds to be viewed or photographed during hunting season on the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, there certainly are, today was proof of that, but occurrences are usually less frequent this time of year and are usually with birds that are more commonly seen anyways.

Also, with the increased traffic, for me, at least, the refuge does lose some of its serenity and quietness that I love throughout the rest of the year, especially during the dreads of winter actually.

But even so, the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge is still an incredible place to visit when conditions aren’t always perfect as a bad day of birdwatching is always better than, well, a good day at work, except, of course, when you’re like me and birding and work are essentially one.

With all of this in mind, however, I will admit I do curtail my birdwatching and photography trips to the refuge auto loop during duck hunting season somewhat when compared to the rest of the year as I can oftentimes be found out there 5 days a week during the spring and summer months.

But as soon as late December rolls around and the refuge completely freezes up, greatly reducing the overall visitation rate, that is when I return to the bird refuge on a more regular basis again in search of winter birds such as bald eagles, rough-legged hawks, and my all-time favorite winter scene, a great blue heron standing over an ice hole in search of a fish.

All of the images for this particular blog post were photographed this morning on both the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge auto tour route and the Bear River itself so I can say from today’s birding trip there were certainly birds to see and photograph despite it being opening day of hunting season.

In fact, I could have come home with a lot more bird photos today but, and I’ll be totally honest with you here, the mosquitos were absolutely unbearable, to say the least.

And having to roll the window down to photograph a bird only let in more mosquitos each and every time I tried so, unfortunately, my bird photography efforts were limited to those scenes I thought would be good images for this blog post and nothing else.

Today’s bird photography trip around the auto tour route was pretty slow on the north and west sections of the drive but when I arrived at the south and southeast segments, birds were actually pretty plentiful in the open water and along the roadside as well.

But that is pretty common actually during hunting season as the north section of the refuge auto loop, referred to as unit 2, is mostly mature wetland habitat and thus attracting a lot of duck hunting activity, whereas the south side is mostly open water where birds congregate in large flocks at times during hunting season because of the added human activity in the wetlands in both the northern end of unit 2 and in other open hunting areas on the refuge.

Grebes, both western and Clark’s were commonly seen on the southern end of the auto tour route, as well as American white pelicans, American avocets, snowy egrets, American coots, and what I am guessing was a horned grebe if my bird identification hasn’t failed me.

I also found a few interesting birds to enjoy and photograph on the Bear River itself where the river comes close to and abuts up against Forest Street, including some American white pelicans, a few snowy egrets, a great blue heron, and even a couple of great egrets.

In fact, today I found as many interesting birds on the Bear River as I did on the refuge auto tour route, which isn’t too uncommon for me this time of year actually.

There are several places where the river is visible from the asphalt road and these locations are always worth a stop and a look to see if any birds, usually herons, egrets, and pelicans, are out and about.

Simply put, the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge offers great birdwatching year-round but during hunting season some of the birds do get pushed into the closed areas more because of the increased human activity on the auto tour route and in the wetlands.

The bird refuge is always worth the trip, even during hunting season, when I’m in the mood for birdwatching but I do keep my expectations a bit on the subdued side of things and my trips are less frequent for the time being until the winter birding season is underway and most of the hunting traffic on the refuge has subsided until next fall.

Well, I hope this helps in some way with what to do during the duck hunt with regard to birdwatching at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.

I still go but not as often and my birding expectations are lower during October through early December, but no matter what time of year it is I always enjoy visiting the refuge.

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(Singing Western Meadowlark. For short nature clips like this one and interesting stories about the natural world around us, check out 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.)