In March of this year, I relocated to Riverton, UT, a southern suburb of Salt Lake City. With a cross-country move comes a whole host of changes including, but not limited to, a completely new world of birds to learn and explore. Coming from central North Carolina, the ecosystems and habitats in this new home have come with a fair amount of adjustments. We are at a much higher elevation now, 4,400 feet instead of 800, 18 inches of rain annually compared to 46, and of course, the Great Salt Lake. This incredible geographic and ecological entity supports over 10 million birds each year as a major migration stopover point and supplies several commercial industries around salt production and brine shrimp cultivation.

To get to know this new part of the country I find myself in, I have decided to start a project to attempt to photograph each known species of bird in Salt Lake County. This list was procured from eBird and contains 378 species (+176 other taxa including hybrids). I will be using this list to reference back to and keep track in a spreadsheet that I have developed. For everyone else, I have created a public gallery that will showcase a photo for each bird species I have photographed.

So far, I am just shy of 50 species. Although this is a great start, there is a LONG way to go. Many of these species are only seen in particular times of year and/or specific locations. That, coupled with my outdated photography equipment, means I have set myself up for a long project ahead.

I hope that this project continues to push me to get out and explore my new surrounding, become a better photographer, and a better birder at the same time. There have already been some great highlights like the families of Cliff Swallows seen above nested under a bridge along the Jordan River. My rate of new species will continue to go down over time with pockets of activity as we progress through the seasons.

There are many more photos over on the project page. You can even go through the whole list by expanding the tabs below the gallery to find specific photos of each species I have captured.

I encourage you get out and explore your local environment however it best suits you. You never know what you might see or find!