Strawberry Reservoir photo by Tim Avery

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Description:
Strawberry Reservoir is a large mountain reservoir, southeast of Heber City in the southwest edge of the Uinta Mountains.  The Reservoir is actually made up of two reservoirs, with Soldier Creek Reservoir being a smaller eastern arm of the lake.  The reservoir is surrounded on all sides by mid-elevation shrubsteppe, as well as patches of Aspen.  Some areas of mid-elevations conifer and mixed Aspen woodland are also accessible immediately from the reservoir.  There are day use fees to go into some of the marina areas, but in general most locations around the lake are open to the public.

Birding:
The reservoir is an important migration stopover for divers, waders, waterfowl, shorebirds, gulls, and terns.  You can check out a number of hots pots on the lake including: Chicken Creek Road, Haws Point, Strawberry Marina, West Strawberry Road, Renegade Point, and the Northeast side along US-40.  All of these areas generally have similar habitat and bird lists, but depending on weather conditions and viewing conditions these locations may have advantages over one another. The lake is generally ice free from April through November, and there are birds present all year when the water is open.  Spring and fall bring the most activity.  If more birders visited this area there would likely be more notable sightings, but the most notable bird from the lake was a SABINE'S GULL.  Rarer loons, grebes and waterfowl likely pass through in October and November as well as May.  The surrounding mountains have a number of high elevation specialties including AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER, NORTHERN GOSHAWK, and RUFFED GROUSE.  GREATER SAGE-GROUSE can be seen in the surrounding shrubsteppe, while there is a small breeding population of PURPLE MARTIN in the area.

Directions:
From Heber City take US-40 south for 23 miles.  The reservoir will be on your right.  There are access points from the west, north, east sides.