Antelope Valley Raptor Search Report: 10 January, 2015

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Driving in the Antelope Valley can be hairy: drivers who know where they’re going rocket up behind us as we poop along, scanning for perched raptors and Mountain Plovers standing motionless in barren fields. Pulling off onto a dirt shoulder – if any – can be risky; rain turns the soil into glue which clogs your tire treads, your tires become slicks, and suddenly you’re bogged. We were lucky as the soil was nearly dry after the prior week’s rains.

Cactus Wren pair in a Joshua Tree (C. Bragg 1/10/15)

It was still cool and quiet at our first stop just south of Palmdale Airport (birthplace of many UFO’s) at 10^th St. East and Blackbird Lane. [I think the blackbirds referred to are not the feathered sort.] We found a few Sparrows including a singing Black-throated and Golden-crowned, a Northern Flicker, some House Finches, the first of many families of Ravens, and a cooperative family of Cactus Wrens, but no LeConte’s Thrashers. The leafless trees of Desert Aire Golf Course were barren of birds as well, and the settling ponds on 40^th St. E. were tumbleweed dry. Not an auspicious beginning.

Savannah Sparrow (note yellow lores) on a rolling irrigator (C. Bragg 1/10/15)

As an aside, my recollection is that Crows are nearly non-existent in the valley, but we did see a few hanging around the McDonald’s parking lot were we got coffee (aka rest stop).

Mountain Bluebird in hot pursuit of an insect (C. Bragg 1/10/15)

Rounding the bend from 40^th onto Ave. N, things picked up. We spotted the first of several sightings of Mountain Bluebirds, then flocks of Horned Larks and Savannah Sparrows in the short grass. We couldn’t find any Mountain Plovers around 50^th & Ave. L, where they’d been reported – in fact we never did find any anywere. We walked along the edge of Little Rock Wash just south of its intersection with Ave. K, but apparently the pair of LeConte’s Thrashers that used to nest there have moved. The vegetation looked thirsty.

Dark phase Ferruginous Hawk flew directly overhead (J. Waterman 1/10/15)

Dark phase Ferruginous Hawk (C. Bragg 1/10/15)

We hit pay dirt out at 110^th St. E and Ave. J, as the reported Ferruginous Hawks were in relative abundance, with a dozen in the air, on the ground, on the irrigation equipment, on phone poles. The reason? Voles! They were picking off any vole who foolishly showed its head. I watched one dark morph Ferruginous Hawk rise from its perch on a rolling irrigator wheel, glide out 75 yards, snatch a vole in its talons and glide back to its wheel. An added treat were more Horned Larks, Savannah Sparrows, a few Red-tailed Hawks, a Northern Harrier and over 100 pensive-looking Killdeer.

A Stunning Light Phase Ferruginous Hawk
(C. Bragg 1/10/15)

By the time we reached Apollo Lake for lunch, it had started to rain. A covered picnic area gave us shelter and a good spot to scan the lake, where we picked up most of the trip’s water birds, including Double-crested Cormorant, 4 species of goose, 7 of duck, Pied-billed Grebe, American Coot, Ring-billed & California Gulls, a hungry flock of Dark-eyed Junco and the usual Great-tailed Grackles whistling from the lakeside trees. Those who needed to return to L.A. headed home, while the rest of us headed off towards the Poppy Preserve in search of Rough-legged Hawk.

Alas, none were found, but we did see a very nice Prairie Falcon and a few more American Kestrels. Continuing to Holiday Lake we crossed the California Aqueduct and spotted some Common Goldeneyes (Barrow’s Goldeneye are occasionally found among them, or so I’ve heard) and Ring-billed – I mean Ring-necked Ducks. [See the picture below.]

Ring-necked Duck: Did you see the ring? Look more closely. At the neck!
(J. Waterman 1/10/15)

Holiday Lake proved to be a desert mirage; I kept thinking I’d found it when it would disappear and reappear elsewhere, always a quarter-mile away. Just when some people were starting to complain – Oh ye of little faith! – I found it. A lot of reeds and not much water, another near-victim of the drought. Many flocks of Blackbirds, mostly Red-winged and a few Tricolored, kept falling and rising in and out of the golden reeds, rustling in the wind. What little water there was held a few ducks. The trees held no owls, although we did find pellets containing tiny skulls and bones.

Common Goldeneyes like the California aqueduct (J. Waterman 1/10/15)

Re-crossing the aqueduct yielded more buffleheads, goldeneyes and Ring-necked Ducks plus an unexpected Common Loon. We continued down to Quail Lake and from an overlook scanned the outlet stream. No Barrow’s Goldeneyes, but lots of ducks trying to go to sleep. We headed home.   [Chuck Almdale]

Prior Trip Reports: Jan 2014   Jan 2013   Jan 2012   Jan 2011   Jan 2010
Link to Antelope Valley Birding Locations