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Fall Bird Migration in Nevada

Nevada holds one of the largest raptor concentrations in the western United States, on a wilderness ridge southwest of Wendover where a season can run past 20,000 birds of up to 18 species.

Agency viewing sites
2
Species documented
3
Mapped
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Where to stand

Public viewing sites in Nevada

Every place below is one an agency itself describes for watching the fall passage, with the agency named and linked, the species it documents there, the months it names as the peak, and the facility that exists: a tour route, a platform, a tower, a visitor centre. Where the agency wrote a sentence worth reading, it is quoted exactly.

Goshute Mountains HawkWatch Public platformMarquee site

A ridge in the Goshute Wilderness Study Area, about 40 km southwest of Wendover on Bureau of Land Management ground

Broad-winged hawkSharp-shinned hawk

Annual counts run between roughly 12,000 and 25,000 migrants of up to 18 species, which the observatory calls one of the largest known concentrations of migrating raptors in the western United States and Canada. Sharp-shinned hawks average around 4,400 a season and once topped 9,500.

“The study site is located in the Goshute Wilderness Study Area approximately 40 km southwest of Wendover, Nevada, on land administered by the Elko Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management.”
HawkCount site profile, Goshute Mountains HawkWatch, quoted exactly.

Run by HawkWatch International, reporting to HawkCount

Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge Federal

Desert wetlands at the end of the Carson River, east of Fallon, with an auto tour route and a boardwalk into the marsh

Tundra swan

More than 290 bird species have been recorded here, and the wetlands draw over a quarter million waterfowl. The refuge calls September a good time for the fall migration but says its swans are a November bird, which sets the two halves of an autumn visit apart.

“September is a good time to witness the fall migration, but swans typically don't show until November.”
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge, quoted exactly.

Run by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The map

Nevada sites, refuges and the reporting record

Style
Records
Layers

Viewing sites in Nevada, with the national wildlife refuges in the state drawn underneath. The coloured grid is where people have uploaded a verified sandhill crane record to iNaturalist in September, October, November and December, brighter where more have been logged. It is a map of reports rather than of birds: it thickens around refuges, car parks and towns because that is where observers stand, and it shows past reports rather than birds present today. Pins are public viewing sites an agency itself describes; grey dots are US Fish and Wildlife Service refuges and hatcheries, drawn because the refuge system is where most of the staging happens.

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When

When the passage peaks in Nevada

HawkCount site profile, Goshute Mountains HawkWatch puts the Nevada peak at Mid August through early November on the Goshute ridge, with swans on the Stillwater marshes from November. That describes a pattern across past autumns. The week itself swings with the weather: a cold front to the north moves cranes and geese south in a single night, and a warm spell holds them for weeks. Dawn and the last hour before dusk are when cranes and geese move between the fields and the water, and that movement is the spectacle the platforms are built for.

Nevada holds one of the great raptor bottlenecks of the American West, and almost nobody outside the count knows it. The Goshute Mountains ridge, in a wilderness study area about 40 km southwest of Wendover, takes between 12,000 and 25,000 migrants of up to 18 species in a season, which HawkWatch International calls one of the largest known concentrations of migrating raptors in the western United States and Canada. Sharp-shinned hawks alone average around 4,400. The wetland half of the state's autumn is Stillwater, east of Fallon, which calls September a good time for the migration but puts its swans in November.

Below, one curve per species the agencies document in Nevada: every research grade observation members of the public have uploaded to iNaturalist for the state, by calendar month across every year the platform holds, with September to December shaded. Counts of uploads, so they measure observers as well as birds, and the shape is worth reading where the absolute numbers are not.

Tundra swan

74 research grade tundra swans observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for Nevada across every year the platform holds, and 54 percent of them fall in the four shaded autumn months. The busiest month in the record is November. An autumn month carries about 2.35 times as many uploads as an average month outside autumn. People upload most of everything in June, so a bar that rises after that is the stronger signal. Counts of what people reported, measuring observers as well as birds. See the autumn records.

Broad-winged hawk

11 research grade broad-winged hawks observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for Nevada across every year the platform holds, and 91 percent of them fall in the four shaded autumn months. With fewer than 60 records the series is too thin to summarise, so the bars stand on their own. Counts of what people reported, measuring observers as well as birds. See the autumn records.

Sharp-shinned hawk

229 research grade sharp-shinned hawks observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for Nevada across every year the platform holds, and 50 percent of them fall in the four shaded autumn months. The busiest month in the record is December. An autumn month carries about 1.98 times as many uploads as an average month outside autumn. People upload most of everything in June, so a bar that rises after that is the stronger signal. Counts of what people reported, measuring observers as well as birds. See the autumn records.

Sandhill cranes flying in a loose line across a pale open sky, necks held straight out in front and long legs trailing behind them
Sandhill cranes crossing a refuge on the morning flight. The movement is watched from the designated pullout or platform: the birds settle on shallow water for the night, and the roost itself is the one place a viewing site is never placed. “Sandhill cranes flying over Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge (24542820818)” by USFWS Midwest Region from United States, CC BY 2.0
Latest reports

What people have reported in Nevada lately

The most recent research grade autumn observation of each species that anyone has uploaded to iNaturalist for Nevada, as a date and the platform’s own coarse locality. Evidence that people do find tundra swan and broad-winged hawk here. Each is one bird on one past day: the flocks move with the weather, so where they are this week is what the agency page and its counts answer.

Checking the most recent autumn uploads for Nevada on iNaturalist...

Where Nevada counts are published

Elsewhere

Other states with agency designated migration viewing

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Questions about Nevada

Inventory compiled 2026-09-19 from the agency pages linked above. Agency text is quoted exactly with its source named and linked; the observation curves and latest reports are counts and dates from public uploads to iNaturalist.

Winter eagle watchingThe same refuges and rivers three months later, when the ice concentrates the eagles.Nevada waterfowl seasonThe hunting calendar on the same marshes, worth knowing before standing on a dike in October.Nevada daylight hoursThe dawn and dusk flights are the spectacle, and the clock change moves them.