Ely

Overview

Ely is the seat of White Pine County in east-central Nevada.  Located at the crossroads of U.S. Highways 6, 50 and 93, it has a much bigger city feel than its 4000+ population would suggest.  Its impressive service area extends over 50mi/80km in all directions.  The result is a town with an abundance of visitor support services – gas stations, hospital, grocery stores, hotels, mini-marts, motels, museums and restaurants – and attractions including East Ely Railroad Depot Museum (a Nevada State Museum), Nevada Club Gambling Hall at the historic Hotel Nevada, Nevada Northern Railroad Museum, Ward Charcoal Ovens, and White Pine Public Museum.

Ely lies between Great Basin National Park and Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge, two of America’s great wildlife viewing areas, and both officially designated Important Bird Areas.  Numerous wildlife viewing areas may be reached within a 15-20 minute drive from downtown Ely including Cave Lake State Park, Comins Lake, Ely Elk Viewing Area, Steptoe Valley north of Ely, Steptoe Valley Wildlife Management Area, and Success Summit Loop.

Ely is at 6427′/1959m elevation and at the northern limit of Southern Nevada, resulting in cooler temperatures than areas lower in elevation or farther south.  This results in quality birding best spring through fall, starting and ending with waterfowl, with late spring and summer nesting species in between.  Winter also offers great wildlife watching opportunities of pronghorn and Rocky Mountain elk, as well as wintering raptors.

As might be expected, wildlife viewing areas served by the Ely Regional Hub are good to excellent places to observe wildlife including elk, pronghorn, Great Basin birds/other wildlife species, mountain birds, waterfowl and migrating Sandhill Cranes.  A prime time to visit is when higher elevations are accessible and bird song is at or near peak – sometime in June or July, depending on the prior snow season.

Ely would also serve well as the northern hub for a mid-May to late June visit to Southern Nevada emphasizing a south-to-north transect emphasizing mountain birding/wildlife viewing.  The lowlands of Southern Nevada are hot this time of year, but Ely’s mountains are temperate.  Such a trip would start using Laughlin Regional Hub to visit nearby Hualapai Mountains for birds typical of Southeastern Arizona and for a birding by kayak trip through Black Canyon below Hoover Dam and/or Topock Gorge in Havasu National Wildlife Refuge.  The Boulder City/Henderson/Las Vegas Regional Hub would be used for an early morning visit to Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve followed by all day on Mt. Charleston in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area. Then it would be north on US 93 for visits to Alamo and Caliente/Panaca/Pioche wildlife viewing areas in late May or early June.  Ely would be next – the hub for a multi-day stay to explore regional wildlife viewing areas with visits to Great Basin National Park on the way in and Ruby Lakes National Wildlife Refuge on the way out. The Monitor Range, Toquima Range and Toiyabe Range accessed from the Tonopah Regional Hub could add even further spice to such a “Grand Southern Nevada Mountain Birding Trip.“ Such a trip could capture southern birds, late migrants, mountain birds, songbirds, and water birds in abundance.  It would be quite the trip!