Bald Eagles in Utah
Utah is home to a lot of interesting wildlife. Mule deer and Elk are abundant in the mountains throughout the state and I can see Pronghorn grazing in the farmer’s fields near Utah Lake almost nightly in the summer and that’s less than a mile from my house. Utah is also home to a wide range of bird species. Shoot, I remember a run in with what I think was a Great Horned Owl while out rabbit hunting years ago. I say that I think that’s what is was because it startled us so bad that we were ducking for cover for a few moments and before we realized what was happening, he was 100 yards away. The reason for this blog post, however, is to talk about Bald Eagles.
Now, I’ve lived in Utah all of my life and prior to 2018 I can count how many Bald Eagles I’ve seen in the wild here on one finger. Then I had the opportunity to construct a small building in the town of Goshen, UT. This area rests on the southwestern portion of Utah Lake. It’s a small town and most of the residents there are farmers or ranchers of some type or another. This means there are a lot of fields and open spaces, prime habitat for birds of all kinds. For five months I spent my days supervising construction crews and watching wildlife. It was the most peaceful job I’ve ever done, really. Those don’t come around that often. Well, on one of those days I noticed what I first thought was a hawk circling the area, but he was too dark and larger than the hawks I had seen previously. Then I noticed the white head and the bright, yellow beak he was sporting. Boom. A Bald Eagle. Way cool. He circled us for a few minutes before heading off to greener pastures, I guess, but the experience sent me down a road of research. That happens a lot, actually. I wish I had liked research when I was in school as much as I do now. Anyway, I learned that seeing eagles in Utah is easier than I thought. You just have to catch them at the right time of year.
February is the best time to see Bald Eagles in Utah, but they hang out here from November to March escaping the colder weather up north and to find food. This year we took advantage of the time of year and loaded up the binoculars and cameras and headed to Farmington Bay, a Wildlife Management area and popular bird watching area in Farmington, Utah. Of course, we picked a weekend that happened to be one of the coldest of the season and the temperature was in the low twenties which tested our resolve and our cold weather gear. Good news, no frostbite. Most of the water was frozen over, but there were patches of open water near the shore that many of the birds chose to congregate in. That makes the bird watching much easier. The cranes were the most interesting of the bunch with their blue colors popping against the snowy, white background. The eagles, however, weren’t interested in hanging out with us. They preferred to hang out about 300 yards off shore, well out of range for my camera, but Misty’s Nikon was able to zoom in on them giving us the up close views that we wanted. There were only three of them in the area which may be because of how early in the season it was. Regardless, we got to see them and it was well worth suffering in the cold to watch them for awhile. So, if you want to see eagles or any of the other migratory birds that pass through Utah, go check out Farmington Bay. There are other areas in the state that you can visit as well, but Farmington is the most accessible to Salt Lake and the only one that we’ve visited so far. Also at Farmington Bay is the Eccles Wildlife Education Center, which is kind of like a visitor center, I think. They are open Tuesday through Saturday and we were there on a Sunday, so, no dice for us. I guess we’ll just have to go back for another adventure.
Brandan
Farmington Bay is located about 15 miles north of Salt Lake City on the southeastern side of the Great Salt Lake. It is a wildlife management area that encompasses 18,000 acres set aside by the state of Utah. Although it is near the Great Salt Lake, it is actually contains only 5% salt allowing carp to survive there which, in turn, provides food for many of the birds that live in the bay. It is open year round and there is no fee to access the area. Don’t forget to bring a spotting scope or binoculars to get a better look at the animals.
Check out the video for this story here.