Date: 1/12/25 10:37 am From: Jason Frank <jmfrank84...> Subject: [mou-net] Announcement: On Ending the Salt Lake Birding Event
Dear Birders,
I have decided to retire the Salt Lake Birding Weekend.
There are three main reasons for this, and one of them is time. My work
schedule is more demanding these days, as I now manage two libraries, and
don’t have the time to commit to location scouting in advance of the count
weekend.
Climate trends in this region have been swinging wildly between droughts
and floods, with spring months tending to favor heavy precipitation. Many
pothole wetlands once considered prime shorebird sites are now hitting
their annual high-water marks during the peak of spring migration.
Seasonally flooded grainfields, hayfields, and pastures will erratically
appear and provide brief habitat for big flocks of shorebirds, but in most
cases, farmers will respond by installing drainage lines beneath those
fields, usually within the year.
This has made it increasingly challenging, year after year, to locate
multiple tracts of shorebird habitat on public land, with decent viewing
and accessibility for 150 birders, across an entire county, for a
dawn-to-dusk expedition.
Last year, roughly 150 birders assembled into caravans led by 4 guides,
with at least 20 vehicles per caravan. I haven’t had any luck recruiting
new guides, and a majority of last year’s guides were not comfortable with
such large, unwieldy, and unsafe caravans. With the number of people who
attended last year, we would’ve needed a dozen guides to divide the group
into safe, effective, and manageable caravans.
I will still share an email here, on MOU-net, during the third week in
April, with insights on water levels, weather conditions, hotspots,
potential wetland drawdowns on public lands, and notable species being seen
in the area. I’ve also written a guide to exploring the Salt Lake/Upper
Minnesota River Valley region, which can be found at the link below:
Lodging information and boundaries for public lands are current as of
January 2025.
Thank you to everyone who has participated and helped out with the Salt
Lake Birding Weekend in the 25 years since I first tagged along with a
walkie-talkie and a worn-out Golden Guide. And thank you as well to
Michelle Terrell, for creating and maintaining the interactive map, which
has had 23,000 views so far. I hope that this will serve as a basis for
individual birders to continue to explore and discover what this little
corner of the state has to offer.
