SALT LAKE CITY — With fall migrations in full swing, this is a great time of year for bird-watching. To add some fun and an extra challenge to the activity, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has launched the Utah Birding Slam.
The Utah Birding Slam is a self-guided, bird-watching challenge that offers six different slams, each with varying difficulty levels. Each slam has specific requirements that encourage and challenge birders to seek out and learn to identify different bird species found in various parts of Utah.
“Utah has a very active bird-watching community, and birders thrive on competitions and seeking out new species and places to go,” DWR Northeastern Region Outreach Manager Tonya Kieffer-Selby said. “I have been a birder since I was 9 years old and am hopeful that this new initiative will get more people engaged in bird-watching and help them gain a new appreciation for these remarkable species. This birding slam was originally conceived by Billy Fenimore, a well-known person in Utah’s birding community and a former DWR employee, so this competition helps carry on his visionary birding legacy.”
Participants can register for the slam of their choice (or experience level) on the DWR website. Each individual slam costs $20 for adults (18 and older) and $10 for youth (17 and younger), and each slam must be registered for separately in order to complete it. The funding goes toward wildlife conservation efforts in Utah, including habitat improvement and research projects, such as Motus towers and telemetry that help track the migrations of various bird species like rosy-finches and pelicans. Then, participants will need to create a free eBird account, where they can track the birds they’ve seen and heard. Finally, they will submit their eBird lists and confirm that they’ve met the slam requirements through the online form linked on the slam webpage. Upon completion of each slam, the participant will receive a bird pin.
The birding slam categories include:
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 slam website.
High-elevation Slam: Find and identify 30 bird species found at 7,000 feet in elevation or higher.
“Not only will this new program help people get more excited about seeing and identifying our various bird species, but it will also help provide important sighting information for biologists,” Kieffer-Selby said. “This data is crucial for conservation and management efforts, and the money raised through the slam will also help with ongoing research for these birds. 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, and all the slams will help us to gather more information on bird populations. We hope you have a great time completing these six slams.”
The Utah Birding Slam also builds upon partnerships between the DWR and various conservation organizations, other state and federal agencies, as many of the best birding locations are located across varying public lands. People can also learn more about the Utah Birding Slam by visiting the DWR building exhibit at the Utah State Fair from Sept. 4-14.
The new Utah Birding Slam is one of several slams offered by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and partners, including the Utah Cutthroat Slam, Utah’s eight Upland Game Slams, and the 10 Utah Waterfowl Slams.