Date: 1/22/25 2:50 pm From: Jonathan Feenstra via groups.io <feenstra...> Subject: [inlandcountybirds] Aqueduct Big Day, 20 January 2025
A group of hearty birders conducted the annual “Aqueduct Big Day” on Monday, January 20. We covered the length of the California Aqueduct across the Antelope Valley from the I-5 in the west to Hesperia in the east. Conditions started right with generally below-freezing temperatures, but clear skies and little wind. By mid-morning a strong east wind had picked up and was blowing about 30mph by 11AM creating clouds of blowing dust and whitecaps on the water. In the western stretches, the Aqueduct was largely covered on foot and other areas were scoped from the road crossings.
Waterbird numbers in the Aqueduct were largely in the range of previous counts with some exceptions: 300 Mallards (high count, previous high was 275 in 2015), Greater Scaup (0, typically in single digits, though 33 in 2019), 8 Common Mergansers (highly variable, missed in 2024, but 149 in 2022), 115 Double-crested Cormorants (high count, previous high count of 16 in 2023).
Two male Green-winged Teal (between Quarry Ridge Rd and Johnson Rd, Nakai) and a Snowy Egret (280th St West, Feenstra) were new waterbirds for the count.
Several counters commented on the abundance of small passerines along the Aqueduct, mostly Savannah Sparrows and Horned Larks, 1407 and 3081, respectively, that were lined up and drinking along the concrete edge, perhaps attracted to the only source of water around given the continuing dry conditions. Forty nine Vesper Sparrows were counted, including 29 in one group (Satyan) – also lined up and drinking from the Aqueduct bank.
Thanks to Lance Benner, Kimball Garrett, Chef Ito, Steve Myers, Jonathan Nakai, Naresh Satyan, Brad Singer, Scott Taylor, and Loren Wright for their stamina in this heroic volunteer effort.
I understand that the first paragraph of this report isn’t a great advertisement, but if you like epic desert vistas and birding in places where birders rarely tread, this is your thing. (Particularly needed are birders in the eastern and San Bernardino parts.) If you’re interested in helping next year, please contact me and I’ll add you to my email list.
