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Wildlife On Wing (WOW) Tours

 

Join the Wild Bird Center on a Wildlife On Wing (WOW) birding adventure.  WOW tours are customized, fee based field trips designed to take you to the best habitats for seeing and learning about birds.  WOW trips provide education on the birds, as well information on their natural history, ecology and habitat.  Although our focus is on birds, we will also see and observe many mammals, butterflies, wild flowers, dramatic landscapes and other natural marvels, as we traverse the landscape.

WOW adventures are often "behind the gates" guided tours, offering participating birders access that is generally not available to the public.  WOW tours can be specifically designed to meet a client's specific quest for target birds.  Examples of a few WOW tours are listed below. 

Deseret Ranch Field Trip

The Wild Bird Center holds the exclusive birding lease for Deseret Ranch.  Deseret Ranch is privately owned and Utah's largest ranch (over 220,000 acres).  Deseret Ranch is a National Audubon Important Bird Area (IBA).  It features a diversity of habitats from sub alpine, mixed montane coniferous and aspen forests to riparian stream corridors, sage-steppe, desert scrub, grassland, wet meadow, pond and lake.  During a typical birding day on Deseret Ranch we will see over 100 bird species. 

Over 275 bird species have been recorded here (62% of the Utah Bird List) and 170 species nest on the ranch (38% of the Utah Bird List).  Ranch specialty birds are Ferruginous Hawk, Calliope Hummingbird, Greater-Sage Grouse, Burrowing and Flammulated Owl, Prairie Falcon, Golden Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Gray and Dusky Flycatcher, to name a few.  Additionally, we often see moose, elk, mule deer, pronghorn antelope, along with carpet waves of wild flowers in season with attendant butterflies and dragonflies.

Uinta Mountains

This is a high, pristine mountain area in northeastern Utah that includes the largest wilderness area in Utah.  The Uinta Range is the highest in Utah, and is the only major range in the contiguous United States with an east-west orientation. Elevations range from 8,000 feet in the lower canyons to 13,528 feet atop Kings Peak - the highest point in Utah.

There are well over 1,000 natural lakes and over 400 miles of streams in the Uinta's.   Coniferous trees (lodge pole pine, Engelmann spruce, Douglas fir, sub-alpine fir) grow in large continuous stands. Quaking aspen occur in scattered patches throughout most of the lower elevations. Isolated meadows and stream side willows add habitat diversity to the timbered areas.

It is in the Uinta range where we find several of Utah's specialty birds:  Black and Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch, White-tailed Ptarmigan, American Three-toed Woodpecker, Gray Jay, Northern Goshawk, Williamson's Sapsucker, Pine Grosbeak, Red Crossbill and White-winged Crossbill.

Himalayan Snowcock Field Trip

One of our most thrilling WOW birding adventures, currently available in the lower 48 is to see the Himalayan Snow Cock.  Birders who avidly seek out birds over time can find many birds where they live.  However, if they wish to continue to add new life birds to their list, they must venture further afield.

Hence, our birding quest to see the Himalayan Snowcock.  No, we do not travel to Nepal and the Himalayan Mountains which is the native habitat for this high elevation bird.  Our trip is to the only area where you can find and see wild reproducing Snowcock in North America, the Ruby Mountains of Nevada.

Gunnison Sage Grouse

Utah has both Greater Sage Grouse and the extremely rare Gunnison Sage Grouse.  There are only two active leks where you can reliably find this bird in the spring.  Take our WOW adventure tour to Southeastern Utah and see the Gunnison Sage Grouse, along with the other wildlife in this red rock canyon country.  You will see the most beautiful vistas as we travel in and around the La Sal Mountains, Moab and Monticello, Utah.

Five Grouse Tour

This tour includes the habitats of the Gunnison and Greater Sage Grouse, Sharp-tail Grouse, and the Dusky and Ruffed Grouse of our mountains and forests.

Great Salt Lake 

A Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve Site, Great Salt Lake is a natural wonder that is a magnet for migratory birds.  Great Salt Lake is recognized regionally, nationally, and around the world for its extensive wetlands and its tremendous and often unparalleled values to migratory birds.  Great Salt Lake and its wetlands create a mosaic of habitat types that are attractive to literally millions of migratory birds that use the lake extensively for breeding, staging, and in some cases, a wintering destination.

A few statistics that emphasize the bird life that you can see and enjoy:

  • Over 7.5 million birds, represented by 257 species, utilize the lake
  • Over 2.5 million eared grebes, at times over half the North American population
  • Up to 20,000 breeding adult pelicans on Gunnison Island
  • 500,000 phalaropes, largest staging concentration in the world, representing 1/3 of world population

The Great Salt Lake is also important to many other species.  One of the world's largest populations of White-faced Ibis nests in the marshes of the lake.  The GSL hosts the largest number of breeding California Gulls, including the world's largest recorded single colony.  Approximately 150,000 breeding adults have been documented in recent years.  And that's not all, there are abundant Franklin's gulls, waterfowl, herons, egrets, terns, raptors (including Bald Eagles and Peregrine Falcons), and songbirds.

Design Your Tour

Many clients will contact me with a list of target birds that they wish to see.  We will design a tour that focuses specifically on those habitats that are most likely to produce viewing opportunities for observing those birds.

Your WOW Guide

WOW adventure tours and field trips are led by Bill Fenimore, author, lector, naturalist, birding expert, educator and owner of the Wild Bird Center.  A brief biographical sketch, including a summary of his most recent awards and recognition of his work includes the following: 

 

  • The Wild Bird Center was awarded the Business of the Year 2009 in Environmental Education by the Utah Society for Environmental Education.

 

  • Fenimore was the recipient of the American Birding Association's (ABA) national Ludlow Griscom Award. This is ABA's highest and most prestigious honor for outstanding contributions in Regional Ornithology, June 2008.

 

  • Recipient of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History national Nature Education Achievement Award, July, 2008.

 

  • Recipient of the International Franchise Association (IFA) Franchisee of the Year, September, 2008.

 

  • Featured speaker at the 2010 Great Salt Lake Bird Festival, an entertaining talk entitled, "Birding is a Life Adventure" and keynote speaker at the St. George Winter Bird Festival in January 2009.

 

  • Governor Jon Huntsman appointed Fenimore and the Utah Senate confirmed his appointment to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) Wildlife Board, May 2009. Governor Huntsman had previously appointed Fenimore to his Great Salt Lake Advisory Council, August 2008; Fenimore was Vice Chair of DWR's Northern Regional Advisory Council, 2001-2008.

 

 

  • Utah Audubon Council Policy Advocate, 2005-2009.

 

Tour Elements and Services

WOW tours include transportation upon your arrival in Utah, Guide service, we pay all trespass fees and any special access fees, spotting scopes, binoculars (if needed), food and refreshments while on tour and overnight accommodation when necessary (double occupancy).  We are insured and require a liability waiver on tours and when entering Deseret Ranch.  A 25% deposit will hold your reservation and tour date confirmation.  Contact Bill Fenimore for additional details on tours in 2010.  Daily rates are $200 per person, plus hotel accommodation (double occupancy) added where required.