Dateland
Shrimp Ponds
14 Sep 2004
by Henry Detwiler
Heading back to Yuma from Luke AFB, stopped off for a couple of hours to
find some birds!
42
species -- bird list is at the bottom of the page
Click on
thumbnail pictures for full-sized shots.
I pulled into the ponds just after 2:00pm, with the temperature
hovering around 100 degrees--actually cooler than it has been
lately! Numerous phalaropes were in the first three ponds,
with the vast majority being Red-necked.
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Red-necked Phalarope
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Wilson's Phalarope
Snowy
plovers were around in good numbers, and posed for several
photos. They spent more time on the berms than most of the
other shorebirds. Perhaps looking for habitat similar to home.
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Scattered among most of the ponds were pairs (or singles) of
Wilson's Phalaropes. I tried valiantly to find Pierre's Red
Phalarope (from 9/11), but was unsuccessful. But ten ponds,
each ten acres, is a LOT of water to cover.
Snowy Plover
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Black Phoebe
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While the vast majority of birds at the Shrimp Ponds are waders,
terns, ducks, and shorebirds, there are also a fair number of other
visitors. This after saw my first Vaux's Swift for the ponds,
along with the ever-present Black Phoebes, quail, Osprey, and
Abert's Towhee.
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Sabine's Gull - juvenile
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Pierre
Deviche found an adult Sabine's Gull at the ponds on 9/11, and I
was looking hard. The first one I saw was a juvenile swimming on Pond
#3; before long it
flew off to the west.
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When I
reached the final pond (#10), I was happy to find not just the
juvenile, but the adult Sabine's Gull there as well! They
were bobbing their heads in the water and swimming about.
Soon the youngster took off.
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Sabine's Gulls - juvenile
& adult
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Sabine's Gulls -
juvenile
It followed the young one, flying off to one of the
ponds on the east side of the complex--watching for shrimp &
other tasty morsels as it flew off.
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Here's the juvenile Sabine's banking for a landing. It came
down on the berm in front of me. (See the picture at the top of
the page.) Then it took off and headed east. The adult Sabine's Gull didn't stick around long,
either.
Sabine's Gulls - adult
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The only other gull present today was an immature California
Gull--huge in comparison to this small fellow. There were
also a number of Black Terns and a few Forster's. After two
hours in the sun, I decided it was time to go home--but I'll be
back!
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