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Intermountain West shorebird survey finds majority of regional migratory birds concentrate at Great Salt Lake
Summary
Presenters reported preliminary raw counts from fall 2024 showing Great Salt Lake hosted a majority of regional shorebirds during the survey window — including ~380,000 phalaropes — and described plans to continue surveys through at least spring 2026 to inform wetland water-allocation decisions and species conservation.
Emily Clark, avian ecologist with the Community Collaborative, and Emily Hamill of the National Audubon Society presented results from the Intermountain West shorebird survey and described how the data will guide wetland management.
Clark said the regional survey replicates an effort last completed about 30 years ago and that the Great Salt Lake is a critical stopover site on the Pacific Flyway. "The Great Salt Lake is one of the most critical stopover sites," she said, and added the lake supports billions of brine flies that provide abundant food during migration windows.
Preliminary raw counts for fall 2024 reported over a half million shorebirds across the survey region, with more than 380,000 phalaropes recorded at Great Salt Lake (about 73% of the lake's count). Clark emphasized these numbers are "raw counts" and have not been adjusted for observer bias or effort. She also noted that roughly 78% of birds in the Great Salt Lake count were observed on lands managed by Forestry, Fire and State Lands.
The team described survey methods (one-day large-area counts at Great Salt Lake to avoid double-counting), mandatory volunteer training, and species additions to the protocol (e.g., white-faced ibis and snowy plover surveys). Hamill summarized regionwide trends, noting that while some historic sites have declined in capacity, 34 sites now hold over 1,000 birds and the network of observers has expanded since the 1990s.
Clark and Hamill said they plan to continue at least three more migration surveys, refine count estimates, compare results to environmental metrics (water availability, phragmites treatment), and coordinate with other research such as brine-fly studies. They asked members to reach out for data and offered to share reports and maps.
The presenters took questions on per-unit habitat metrics and confirmed plans to analyze birds-per-kilometer-of-shoreline and other habitat-quality measures as part of the next analysis phase.
