It was just easy and fun to spend a long day of birding with Tim. I came away from the experience wanting to go back.
Lesley M Custom Tour, 2017
Featured Tour
2025 Great Salt Lake Bird Festival Tour Offerings 8 Tours - May 12-22, 2025
Partnering with Davis County and Great Salt Lake Bird Festival, we are excited to offer a variety of tours from May 12-22 before, during, and after the festival. All festival tours are specially priced and designed to focus on some of the best birding and locations the state of Utah has to offer!
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Flammulated
Owling
May thru August
More than 18 Public Tour Dates!
For almost 20 years we’ve been showing people Flammulated Owls in Utah. Flammulated Owling is the tour that started the business and remains our most popular. If you want to see a Flammulated Owl, we can show you!
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Great Salt Lake
Birding Tour
Year Round
4 Public Tour Dates
The Great Salt Lake is home to millions of breeding waterbirds, and hosts even more during migration offering a unique look at birdlife unlike anywhere else in states. No visit to Utah is complete without a visit to the lake—“Americas Dead Sea”.
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Mountain
Birding Tour
Year Round
4 Public Tour Dates
Rising from 4,200’ in Salt Lake to over 13,500’ at their highest, the mountains in northern Utah provide an incredible wealth of habitats, scenery, and of course birds. These tour options provide a perfect introduction to the mountains.
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Best of Utah
Birding Tour
May thru August
4 Public Tour Dates
The Great Basin, Rocky Mountains, and the Great Salt Lake all meet in northern Utah and this tour combines our Mountain, Great Salt Lake, and Desert Tours into a full day, capping things off with our famous Flammulated Owling Tour.
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Our Most Popular Itineraries
ON SALE
Utah Highlights:
Zion to the Lake
May 12-15, 2025
3 of 7 Spaces Available
With visits to the Great Salt Lake, Zion National Park, the Beaver Dam Conservation Area, and Kolob Plateau, this will be a memorable tour highlighting the variety of birds and places Utah has to offer at the height of migration.
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ON SALE
Cassia Crossbills
& More
June 19-21, 2025
6 of 7 Spaces Available
First described in 2009 and formally recognized as a species in 2017, the endemic Cassia Crossbill is the newest American bird species and only found in the remote mountains of southern Idaho. This quick tour will focus on this species!
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Mountain West
Most Wanted
July 20-25, 2025
4 of 7 Spaces Available
Emulated by others, this is the ORIGINAL tour that provides opportunities to get our target Himalayan Snowcock, Cassia Crossbill, Flammulated Owl, Black Swift, Gray Vireo, Gray Partridge, Chukar, Lewis’s Woodpecker, and more!
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ON SALE
Himalayan Snowcock
Expedition
August 24-26, 2025
5 of 7 Spaces Available
Introduced in the Ruby Mountains in Nevada in the 1960s, a wild population of Himalayan Snowcock established to become a destination species for American Birding Association listers. This quick tour will focus on this species.
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Boreal Owling
Adventure
2 Tours - Sep 28-Oct 2 and Oct 5-9, 2025
Space(s) Available
Several years ago we located a few reliable locations to track down Boreal Owls during the fall in northern Utah. After a practice run in 2023 we've decided to offer a handful of Boreal Owl Tours each fall!
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NEW TOUR!!!
California
Endemics & Exotics
November 9-19, 2025
7 of 7 Spaces Available
Few places in North America offer the diversity of Southern California for winter birding. With its unmatched climate, it provides a perfect escape with the potential to encounter nearly 250 species, 20+ which are entirely or nearly endemic.
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NEW TOUR!!!
Puerto Rico:
Island Endemics
March 1-6, 2026
6 of 7 Spaces Available
Puerto Rico is the perfect gateway into tropical and Caribbean birding with 18 endemic species, 2 endemic subspecies, and all of the spectacular West Indies birding you could ask for - all without needing a passport for US citizens!
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Even More Tours... Year Round Options
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We currently offer a variety of tours in the US, Mexico, and Indonesia. As we expand, our keen interest in world birding will hopefully allow us to offer tours in variety of other places around the globe.
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Highly Sought-after ABA Area Birds
Mountain West Most Wanted Himalayan Snowcock, Cassia Crossbill, Flammulated Owl, Gray Partridge, & More!
The mother of all mountain west birding trips, this intensive 5 day tour focuses on the most highly sought after birds of the mountain west. Fast-paced bird-filled days should have you in and out in a week with a list full of life birds!
Featured On...
94 Reviews
2020, '22, & '23 Trip Advisor Travelers' Choice Award Consistently earning great reviews from birders!
Top Rated Wildlife Tour
in Salt Lake City
Himalayan Snowcock and Cassia Crossbill! Another trip with Tim, another success! These were the “big two” for this trip and Tim delivered in spades.
Paul K Most Wanted , 2018
Recent Tours & Updates
August 24-26, 2024
2024 Himalayan Snowcock Expedition
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July 25-30, 2024
2024 Most Wanted
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June 20-22, 2024
2024 Cassia Crossbills & More
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May 19, 2024
2024 Marathon Birding
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May 13-16, 2024
2024 Utah Highlights
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August 27-29, 2023
2023 Himalayan Snowcock Expedition
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July 27-31, 2023
2023 Most Wanted
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July 25-30, 2023
2023 Georgia Audubon Custom
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June 15-17, 2023
2023 Cassia Crossbills & More
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April 18-24, 2023
2023 Texas - LRGV, Aransas, & Hill Country Custom
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January 12-23, 2023
2023 Chiapas
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August 28-30, 2022
2022 Himalayan Snowcock Expedition
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July 19-23, 2022
2022 Most Wanted #2
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July 15-19, 2022
2022 Most Wanted #1
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is Mountain West Birding Company?
When we started guiding in 2007, we never imagined taking our tours beyond the confines of Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Nevada—thus Mountain West Birding Company was born. Mountain West specialized in Flammulated Owl, Himalayan Snowcock, and Cassia Crossbill Tours.
Why did you change your name to Pitta?
After a decade leading tours in the western United States we expanded our offering with new tours in Southeast Asia and Central America. As we work on expanding further and offering more International options,, we decided we needed a name that reflected that change!