Utah has a new birding challenge as the fall migration season begins
Sep 5, 2025, 6:00 AM
A male red-winged blackbird flies around the wetlands near the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area on May 8, 2024. A new self-guided birdwatching challenge seeks to help Utahns enjoy the fall migration season and fund bird habitat projects. (Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
(Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — Fall might be known for leaf peeping, but it’s also a great time to watch birds.
Billions of birds across North America are beginning their annual migration, including approximately a million that passed through Utah between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, according to the BirdCast Migration Dashboard. It estimates 14 million birds have passed through the state since Aug. 1, which is slightly below the state’s average for this point in the year.
Migration historically peaks between September and October, but nearly 80 million birds tend to pass through the Beehive State between August and November each year on their journey to their winter homes, per BirdCast data. These can be great distances, too, as birds Utah wildlife biologists banded in Utah have turned up in countries across South America, parts of Asia and even on islands in the Pacific Ocean.
And now Utah has a way to get in on the birdwatching fun this fall.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources launched a new self-guided bird-watching challenge called the Utah Birding Slam on Tuesday, which offers a series of birdwatching adventures ranging from birds found in a backyard to species found in the mountains. There are even challenges to spot birds across different parts of the state.
“Utah has a very active birdwatching community, and birders thrive on competitions and seeking out new species and places to go. I … am hopeful that this new initiative will get more people engaged in birdwatching and help them gain a new appreciation for these remarkable species,” said Tonya Kieffer-Selby, the division’s northeastern region outreach manager, in a statement.
The idea, she adds, was initially conceived by Billy Fenimore, a former state wildlife employee and prominent local birder who died in 2022, and she views it as a way to “carry on his visionary birding legacy.”
Participants can register an eBird account for free, where the challenges are documented. However, there’s a registration fee to enter the Utah Birding Slam, which is $20 for adults and $10 for anyone 17 or younger. All eBird lists will be submitted to the division.
The six competitions are:
- Beginner Slam: Submit one complete checklist to eBird that documents at least one bird sighting.
- Backyard Slam: Identify 10 species of birds within a 5-mile radius of your home and then submit at least five eBird checklists by going out to identify birds on five different occasions.
- County Slam: Find and identify 14 bird species in five counties.
- Wetland Slam: Find and identify at least 30 of the wetland bird species listed in this category on the slam website.
- Ultimate Slam: Find and identify at least 30 of the bird species listed in this category on the Utah Birding Slam website.
- High-Elevation Slam: Find and identify 30 bird species found at elevations of 7,000 feet or higher.
People who complete a challenge will win a special bird pin tied to the challenge, but the biggest winner might just be the birds. Fees collected by the competition will go toward habitat improvement, research projects and other projects that improve bird habitats, state wildlife officials said.
Biologists will also be able to review sighting information, which can help in future conservation and management efforts in the state.
“Some of the slams include identifying some of the birds listed in the Utah Wildlife Action Plan as species of greatest conservation and information need,” Kieffer-Selby said. “All the slams will help us to gather more information on bird populations.”
Related: How a hot, dry summer could alter Utah’s wildlife behaviors
