The Refuge has Three Hiking Trails which provide access to a variety of habitat and birds. There is also an auto tour route to view wildlife from a vehicle. For other sites of Interest go to the Byron State Wildlife Watchers Area Byron Hatchery Watchable Wildlife Area . Salt Plains NWR has abeen designated as an extremelly important habitat for migrating shorebirds by the Western Shorebird Reserve Network, the only network site in Oklahoma and one of only 17 in the nation. The Salt Plains area offers year-around wildlife viewing .
Spring is an exciting time to observe goslings, waterfowl in breeding plumage, and songbirds.
May. Sandpiper Trail provides an exellent viewing area for shorebirds. In Summer the endangered interior least tern nests on the salt flats and can usually be seen feeding around the lake and spillway area. Thousands of egrets and herons nest on Ralston Island in the Great Salt Plains Lake and can be observed feeding on refuge wetlands and grasslands. Ralston Island is the only known nesting site in Oklahoma for white-faced ibis. In Fall the colder, northern temperatures bring huge migrations of ducks, geese and sandhill cranes to the Salt Plains during October and November.