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Fall Bird Migration in Wyoming

A Rocky Mountain flyway state where the state agency's wetland habitat areas stage ducks, geese and sandhill cranes in fall and a BLM ridge north of Kemmerer carries the only standardized raptor count in Wyoming.

Agency viewing sites
5
Species documented
4
Mapped
4
Where to stand

Public viewing sites in Wyoming

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.

Commissary Ridge HawkWatch Public platformMarquee site

Ridgetop at the southern end of Commissary Ridge on South Fork Mountain, BLM land about 23 miles north of Kemmerer

Broad-winged hawkSharp-shinned hawk

HawkWatch International has run a full-season fall raptor count here since 2002, currently August 27 to November 5, on land managed by the BLM Kemmerer Field Office. The HawkCount profile says visitors are welcome at all times; the observation point is reached on foot from the field camp off the Lake Viva Naughton road, about half a mile along the ridge. Sharp-shinned hawks average about 1,000 a season and broad-winged hawks are a small annual passage that peaked at 153 in 2025. The profile notes the site is twice as windy on average as any other site in the HWI network.

Run by HawkWatch International, on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management Kemmerer Field Office

Ocean Lake Wildlife Habitat Management Area StateMarquee site

Reservoir, marsh, ponds and cropland in the Wind River Basin, 17 miles northwest of Riverton

Sandhill crane

Peak months as the agency page describes them.

The state agency manages this 11,289 acre area primarily for waterfowl production and lists wildlife viewing among its uses, with boat ramps, picnic shelters at three sites and more than three miles of improved roads. Its page says that during migration up to 3,000 geese, 400 sandhill cranes and 10,000 ducks may be observed, without naming months. A half-mile no-entry buffer around the lake aerator applies from December 15 to March 10.

“During migration, up to 3,000 geese, 400 sandhill cranes and 10,000 ducks may be observed here.”
Wyoming Game and Fish Department, quoted exactly.

Run by Wyoming Game and Fish Department

Springer/Bump Sullivan Wildlife Habitat Management Area State

Two reservoirs and their wetland margins in Goshen Hole, 15 miles south of Torrington

Sandhill craneSnow goose

Peak months as the agency page describes them.

A 3,416 acre area around Springer and Bump Sullivan reservoirs that the state agency describes as a spring and fall stopover for large numbers of waterfowl, naming Canada and snow geese, sandhill cranes and shorebirds among the birds using it. Wildlife viewing is a listed use, with parking, comfort stations and boat ramps. Vehicles are excluded from October 1 to May 15, which leaves foot and horse access, open year-round, as the fall entry. No months are stated for the fall passage.

“During the spring and fall, large numbers of waterfowl use this area as a stopover point on their migration routes.”
Wyoming Game and Fish Department, quoted exactly.

Run by Wyoming Game and Fish Department

Table Mountain Wildlife Habitat Management Area State

Nine waterfowl ponds and marsh set in grassland and sagebrush, 15 miles southeast of Torrington

Sandhill crane

Peak months as the agency page describes them.

The state agency calls this 1,720 acre area, with 590 acres of ponds and marsh, one of the most important wetland areas in southeast Wyoming and an important staging area for thousands of ducks and geese each spring and during the fall migration. Sandhill crane is listed among the species on the area, and the agency's coordinated spring survey of mid-continent cranes is run here. Wildlife viewing, camping and hiking are listed uses. Vehicles are excluded from October 1 to May 15; foot and horse access is open year-round. No months are stated for the fall passage.

“This area is an important staging area for thousands of ducks and geese each spring and during the fall migration.”
Wyoming Game and Fish Department, quoted exactly.

Run by Wyoming Game and Fish Department

Keyhole State Park, Keyhole Reservoir State

Reservoir on the Belle Fourche River at the western edge of the Black Hills, between Sundance and Moorcroft

Sandhill crane

Wyoming State Parks lists bird-watching and wildlife viewing among the park's activities, and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's 2021 migratory bird report records that in recent years 7,000 to 15,000 sandhill cranes have stopped to rest on Keyhole Reservoir during daylight hours around the 10th to the 30th of October. The park's docks and water systems are typically available from May 15 to October 15; the park itself stays open.

“The past few years, 7,000-15,000 cranes have stopped to rest during daylight hours at Keyhole Reservoir around the 10th to 30th of October.”
Wyoming Game and Fish Department, 2021 Migratory Game Bird Job Completion Report, quoted exactly.

Run by Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites and Trails

The map

Wyoming sites, refuges and the reporting record

Style
Records
Layers

Viewing sites in Wyoming, 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 Wyoming

Wyoming Game and Fish Department, 2021 Migratory Game Bird Job Completion Report puts the Wyoming peak at September on the pre-migration crane staging areas of central and western Wyoming, then roughly the 10th to the 30th of October at Keyhole Reservoir in the northeast. 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.

Wyoming sits under the Rocky Mountain Population of greater sandhill cranes, which the state agency describes breeding across the central and western parts of the state and gathering on traditional pre-migration staging areas in September before moving to the San Luis Valley of Colorado; a separate mid-continent passage crosses the northeast, where the agency has recorded a large October stopover on Keyhole Reservoir. The agency's wetland habitat management areas at Ocean Lake, Springer/Bump Sullivan and Table Mountain were built out from the 1960s with ponds and goose nesting structures and are the places its own pages tie to spring and fall waterfowl staging. Raptors follow the ridges: HawkWatch International's Commissary Ridge count north of Kemmerer is the only standardized fall migration count in the state and publishes daily totals on HawkCount.

Below, one curve per species the agencies document in Wyoming: 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.

Sandhill crane

1,138 research grade sandhill cranes observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for Wyoming across every year the platform holds, and 9 percent of them fall in the four shaded autumn months. The busiest month in the record is May. An autumn month carries about 0.19 times as many uploads as an average month outside autumn. People upload most of everything in July, 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.

Snow goose

22 research grade snow geese observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for Wyoming across every year the platform holds, and 41 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.

Broad-winged hawk

15 research grade broad-winged hawks observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for Wyoming across every year the platform holds, and 27 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

81 research grade sharp-shinned hawks observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for Wyoming across every year the platform holds, and 33 percent of them fall in the four shaded autumn months. The busiest month in the record is August. An autumn month carries about 1 times as many uploads as an average month outside autumn. People upload most of everything in July, 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 Wyoming lately

The most recent research grade autumn observation of each species that anyone has uploaded to iNaturalist for Wyoming, as a date and the platform’s own coarse locality. Evidence that people do find sandhill crane and snow goose 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 Wyoming on iNaturalist...

Where Wyoming counts are published

Elsewhere

Other states with agency designated migration viewing

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Questions about Wyoming

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.Wyoming waterfowl seasonThe hunting calendar on the same marshes, worth knowing before standing on a dike in October.Wyoming daylight hoursThe dawn and dusk flights are the spectacle, and the clock change moves them.