Search Wildlife
- Learn about Utah's nocturnal wildlife during 'spooky' season at upcoming Hardware Wildlife Education Center exhibit
- Hunting deer in Utah this year? Visit a DWR check station to get deer tested for chronic wasting disease
- Utah Wildlife Board approves updates to bighorn sheep and mountain goat statewide management plans, other items
- What hunters should know about the 2025 Utah waterfowl hunting season
- 21 waterbodies still under watch or warning advisories for harmful algae; what to know when waterfowl hunting this fall
- How to help fight poaching in Utah
- Have a hunting or fishing license? Target shoot for free at 2 DWR ranges on National Hunting and Fishing Day
- DWR requests anglers harvest specific fish species at 2 waterbodies to help improve fisheries
Birds
An avian oasis
The Great Salt Lake is recognized nationally and around the world for its extensive wetlands and tremendous, often unparalleled value to migratory birds.
The lake's unique physical features, including its immense size, dynamic water levels, diversity of aquatic environments, extensive wetlands and geographic position within avian migration corridors, create a mosaic of habitat types that are attractive to literally millions of migratory birds that use the lake extensively for breeding, staging and in some cases, a wintering destination.
Quick facts
Over 12 million birds, represented by 339 species, utilize the Great Salt Lake and its associated wetlands and uplands:
- As many as 5 million eared grebes, at times half to 90% of the North American population
- Up to 20,000 breeding American white pelicans on Gunnison Island
- Over 600,000 Wilson's phalaropes, the largest staging concentration in the world, representing over a third of the world population
- 21% of the continental population of snowy plovers
- Annual waterbird survey since 1997
Birds slideshow
Click or tap the image below to view a slideshow of birds from the Great Salt Lake.
