PHOTO: The flying owl in the top image is a Short-Eared Owl.
BEAR RIVER MIGRATORY BIRD REFUGE
By Jim Foster
Located in northern Utah is the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge (MBR). This is where Bear River flows into the northeast arm of the Great Salt Lake. This joining creates the marshes found at the mouth of the Bear River and are the largest freshwater component of the Great Salt Lake ecosystem.
Considering the fact that arid desert lands surround these marshes explains why they have always been an oasis for waterfowl and shorebirds.
The Refuge and other wetlands associated with the Great Salt Lake provide critical habitat for migrating birds from both the Pacific and Central Flyway of North America. This area contains abundant food for birds. Birds come to the Refuge by the millions to eat and rest during migration.
During my visit it seemed like a yellow-headed blackbird occupied every available perch while the water hosted hundreds of pairs of Grebe of several species. Canada Geese couples were busy introducing their small yellow goslings to the land and water.
As part of Great Salt Lake, the Refuge is designated as a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network site. The millions of feathered visitors that congregate at the refuge during migration will ultimately spread out over the hemisphere. Recoveries of birds banded at Bear River Refuge have shown that while many remain in the United States, Canada and Mexico, some may fly as far as Russia, Central America, or islands in the Pacific Ocean.
HERE ARE A FEW BEAR RIVER REFUGE FEATHERED FACTS.
* Refuge breeding colonies of white-faced ibis contain as many as 18,000 birds.
* Up to 10,000 American avocets breed at the Refuge annually.
* One of North America’s three largest American white pelican breeding colonies, containing in excess of 50,000 birds, is found on Gunnison Island in Great Salt Lake.
* Northern Utah marshes host up to 60 percent of the continental breeding population of cinnamon teal.
* The Great Salt Lake boasts the largest fall staging concentration of Wilson’s phalaropes in the world, at approximately 500,000 birds. Red-necked phalaropes number nearly 100,000.
*The Great Salt Lake area hosts greater than 50 percent of the continental breeding population of snowy plovers.
*Bear River Refuge may attract over 65,000 black-necked stilts in the fall, more than anywhere else in the country.
If you have comments or news for Jim Foster please email him at: jim@jimfosteroutdoors.com.
