I don’t know about anybody else but for me there are very, very few, if any actually, scenes anywhere that rival an evening of birdwatching on the Great Salt Lake during a grand sunset for both beauty and tranquility.
Consider the following scenario for a moment, if you will, and allow me to paint you a verbal picture, well, as best as I can that is, to go along with today’s accompanying images since neither words nor photographs alone can describe such an experience in its entirety, not even close so I won’t even try.
As the last fleeting moments of the setting sun began to light up both a small section of the prevailing clouds and shallow water in front of me with a spectacular golden hue four American avocets announced their arrival with some very distinct chirps as they land nearby and begin to feed on the summer abundance of brine shrimp and flies, adding to the dozen or more avocets that have been casually posing for the camera, some on one leg, with little concern for my presence so close by.
Other types of shorebirds, mostly Wilson’s phalaropes I’d wager from my initial assessment, fly back and forth just a few inches above the water off in the distance, softly breaking the prevailing silence with discernable, short bursts of chatter as they search for a suitable place to land.
Just before the sun crests the smoke-filled horizon it finds a timely break in the clouds and peaks out from behind the golden curtain, radiating its brilliant reflection onto what is now turning into a blazing red waterway and skyline.
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A few more American avocets arrive and settle in just a few yards away as I lay on the salt-encrusted, brine-covered shoreline and feverishly photograph what I can before the rich colors and remaining light run dry.
This was the scene I happened to stumble upon last weekend on an impromptu birdwatching trip to Antelope Island and even though the sunset was extremely small and isolated it was still a spectacular backdrop behind the American avocets and other shorebirds feeding just a few yards away in the slightly rippled salt water.
Sunsets like this on the Great Salt Lake are moments that have to truly be experienced in person to receive the full effect of what nature has in store for you, me, and anyone else who visits the lake on one of those special evenings when the setting sun puts on such a spectacular show but somehow allows only a portion of the prevailing beauty to be captured on film even by the most experienced of photographers, mandating the fullness of all the sights and sounds it offers to be enjoyed in person as it was for two other photographers and me last weekend as we braved clouds of brine flies to photograph and enjoy such an incredible scene from the sandy shoreline.
I can honestly say I’ve never had a bad birdwatching trip to the Great Salt Lake but moments like this would surely make up for any shortfall if they did somehow happen.
Late summer and early fall, typically July through September, are the best times to visit the Great Salt Lake along the Antelope Island causeway if you’re in the mood for birdwatching large flocks of migrating shorebirds such as American avocets, black-necked stilts, and Wilson’s phalaropes, just to name a few.
Shorebirds by the thousands upon thousands, with overall bird numbers tallying up in the millions when waterfowl and other water birds are added to the mix, migrate through the Great Salt Lake each fall, offering birdwatchers and photographers alike a unique opportunity to view and enjoy some incredible numbers of birds congregating in vast flocks along the asphalt causeway.
In fact, as I was waiting for the sun to set thousands of Wilson’s phalaropes were congregating in large flocks on the south side of the causeway, giving the notion that fall migration is right around the corner and now is the time to start planning a trip to the Great Salt lake if birdwatching for shorebirds is your passion.
The reason why the Great Salt Lake is such a bird magnet for shorebirds is, simply put, the brine flies and their shrimp that live in the salty waters of the lake offer an almost unlimited amount of food for the migrating birds, some having to fly as far as South America.
Well, an unlimited amount of food when the Great Salt Lake is full and healthy, that is, which hasn’t been the case for many years now due to both drought and human consumption of water from all the rivers feeding the lake.
Politicians, economists, and government officials all try to put a financial figure on the Great Salt Lake, a dollar value of its worth per se but, honestly, no such number exists nor should it even be pursued.
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The true worth of the Great Salt Lake is something that has no monetary calculation available but a value that can only be felt inside oneself during moments when the lake shows what it has to offer to each and every one of its visitors no matter what time they visit, values such as peace, serenity, and a connection to the natural world around us that can come from nowhere else but the lake itself and moments we all should be seeking to rest from the ever-increasing chaos that comes from the asphalt and steel jungle we live in that makes up our modern society.
Protecting the Great Salt Lake shouldn’t be a matter of economic valuation with competing entities all vying against one another on a politician’s balance sheet for its water, shorelines, and minerals, it should be protected because, flat out, it’s the right thing to do because, well, it just is.
Spend a few quiet minutes watching a grand sunset settle in over the Great Salt Lake on a calm evening filled with migrating shorebirds and you will find there isn’t enough money in the world to compensate for the loss or even reduction of such a natural treasure.
If nature is your passion like it is mine I offer you to head on over to our subscribe page and sign up for email notifications for future blog posts where we share our love for the natural world around us through photography and the written word.
(Thousands of Wilson’s Phalaropes on the Great Salt Lake. 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.)
