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The Great Salt Lake Nature Center in Farmington is a great place to go bird watching. There are 3 short trails to enjoy. I typically come here in the winter, but lately I have been having great luck with bird sightings that I find myself wanting to come back more often. I started out interested in Bald Eagle sightings, this grew to other large birds, and then other birds of prey, and well, I hate to accept this as fact but I think I have turned full on bird watcher. They really are fascinating things to watch. The Nature Center is better than any Aviary or Zoo as you get to watch the birds in their natural environment doing their natural behaviors. The only downside is you will likely need binoculars or a good telephoto lens to really enjoy it.
Again, I had other plans for today, but we had rain for most of the day and it was just me today. I didn’t want to try a new trail out on my own, so I figured I’d be alright with the familiar Nature Center.
Quick Details:
Length: Depends what you decide to do. From .4 - 2 miles or more.
Difficulty: All DR2
Elevation Gain: 0 All trails are flat.
Restroom: Yes at the Visitor Center
Dogs? Seasonal. Dogs are allowed, on leash between September 16th and February 29th. They are not allowed March 1st - September 15th.
There are 3 main trails all of which I have done this year:
Farmington Creek Trail 1.5 m loop
Glovers Pond Trail 1.2 m loop
And the Upland Trail. 1.5 m out and back (with option to add .5 mile out and back to Goose Egg Island).
To get here:
Take i15 toward Farmington. Take exit 322. Take the first right and follow it around the curve to the frontage rd. Turn right onto Glovers ln. Drive 1.6 miles to 1325 w, and there is the small parking lot on the left before the gate. If the visitor center is open the gate will be as well and you can drive right up to it. If not, you can park here and still hike around by going through the access opening.
The Great Blue Heron Nesting Tower.
Speaking of Great Blue Herons, one happened to fly overhead. I think this is my best shot of one yet.
I decided to walk around Glovers Pond and see if I could get some good shots of the herons.
This pretty Red-Winged Blackbird singing from the top of a cattail didn’t seem to mind how close he was to me.
Duck coming in for a landing.
Not sure what these guys are but they are pretty.
Geese nesting on the island.
Great Blue Heron. Actually a very pretty bird.
The one in the nest below got up.
This one shows the neck feathers better.
Okay, I enjoyed being able to see these guys better, but I decided to turn back and explore elsewhere.
American Pelican.
American Avocet.
Various ducks and other waterfowl. It looks like almost all of them are looking for food.
A hawk soaring over some herons.
After enjoying a serious abundance of birds around Glovers Pond, I decided to hit up the Farmington Creek trail.
I thought these were a type of duck at first, but they are American Coots. I noticed they tend to dive pretty deeply and thought it was unusual for a duck, but I’m not a bird expert. My little Birds of Utah guide has been really helpful in identifying most birds.
Looking out towards Goose Egg Island. This can be accessed from the Upland Trail or from the dike roads.
The never-ending flatness out towards Antelope Island.
I believe this is Mitigation Pond.
More geese! These guys are just hanging out all over the place.
Entering the boardwalk section over the marshes and ponds.
More boardwalks.
Cattails.
Big Pond. You can see the viewing blind and viewing dock on the right there.
Bridge over Big Pond.
With the Oquirrh Mountains.
East pond.
The Great Blue Herons again.
And I ended my day watching for hawks in the front field.
Another Great Blue Heron.
Another Northern Harrier.
I am starting to think I won’t ever get lucky enough to get an amazing close shot like I did the first time we were here this winter, but I still really enjoying watching these guys hunt.
I love the way they hover for a second looking down before striking.
Hovering again.
Gorgeous birds.
Hanging out, eyeing the landscape.
Closest, but not best shot of the day.
Last couple shots before I called it a day.
Stop sign graffiti.
Great day for birding at the Nature Center today. I am glad I came back out. I went back and forth on whether or not to post this, considering I just recently posted all 3 trails on the Nature Center, but I got some good shots of birds I wanted to share, so here we are. Seriously, if you want to see some birds doing what birds do in the wild, come check this place out. You will not be disappointed.10 out of 10 squirrels today.
As for difficulty, its completely flat, most trails are wide, some boardwalked even. DR2.
Dogs are allowed, on leash between September 16th and February 29th. They are not allowed March 1st - September 15th.
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