The Deseret Ranch Birding Experience

When we first began conducting bird surveys of the Deseret Ranch eleven years ago, we quickly realized that the ranch was not only home to some of the best birding in Utah, but also had the potential to become one of the finest birding-tour destinations anywhere. Since then, hundreds of birders from across America (including many who have visited several times) have discovered that birding the ranch is like birding in your own, personal national park.

At nearly 250,000 acres, Deseret Ranch is Utah’s largest piece of privately-owned property. With its boundaries stretching through five counties in northeastern Utah, the ranch has examples of nearly all of the habitats of the region. The eastern third of the ranch has rolling hills of sagebrush and grass, with extensive areas of wet meadows and marsh, along with many ponds and several large lakes. The western portion of the ranch consists of mountain ridges and  valleys, with a mosaic of coniferous forest, aspen woodlands, and meadows. Willows and cottonwoods line the numerous streams. From the tops of the ridges, stunning panoramas of the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains greet the viewer.

Deseret Ranch is one of the best examples of holistic ranch management in the west. Under this philosophy, the ranch is managed in order to maintain a healthy ecosystem. Increased biodiversity is actively encouraged. As a result, the ranch abounds with wildlife. Elk, Moose, Deer, Pronghorn, Coyote, Badger, Prairie Dog and Beaver are some of the mammals which can be easily seen. Of course, there are lots of birds on the ranch. Our surveys have found over 270 species of birds on the ranch, with many new species still being added each year. Bird-watching trips to the ranch, which began in 1994, typically record over 120 species on single-day outings.

Birding trips to the ranch follow a free itinerary, where the season and your desires dictate our activities. The typical day features an early breakfast at the hotel followed by a morning outing onto the ranch were we may have a picnic breakfast and picnic lunch, we return to Evanston in the afternoon for a short break before dinner. After dinner at a good restaurant we return to the ranch for evening birding and wildlife viewing, including looking for night birds as desired.

Deseret Ranch is also a convenient base from which to visit other great birding locations, such as the Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island, the Uinta Mountains, Bear Lake, and Cache Valley. Weekend and longer tours usually include visits to off-ranch sites which have birding opportunities not found on the ranch.

We have found so many good birding places on the ranch in recent years that it became apparent that we couldn’t visit them all in a weekend, and still have time to visit great birding locations off the ranch, such as the nearby Uinta Mountains. For this tour, we have six glorious days to bird Deseret Ranch and the surrounding area of northern Utah. We’ll have access to the highest mountains, where we can find birds such as Black Rosy-Finch, crossbills, Pine Grosbeak, Gray Jay, and Three-toed Woodpeckers. We’ll also be able to see the huge variety of breeding birds which the varied habitats of Deseret Ranch support, and may even have a few early shorebirds on their way back south (like the Bar-tailed Godwit we saw in July, 2000!). This is a true birding vacation, where you can lose yourself in the immense landscape and great birds of Deseret Ranch, and escape from mid-summer heat and the stresses of everyday life.

Arrival and Departure information: The tour begins in Salt Lake City as soon as everyone arrives on the first day (but not after 3 pm), and lasts through noon on last day. Flights to and from Salt Lake City should be arranged to arrive no later than 3 pm on the first day, and depart no earlier than noon on the last day. As an alternative, you may fly into Salt Lake City a day early, and/or out from Salt Lake City on the day following the end of the tour. You will be responsible for your own accommodations in Salt Lake City on the extra nights (we can make a reservation for you, however).