Birders,
On Tuesday 2 May a group of us (John Birsner, Chris Dean, Jon Feenstra, Kimball Garrett, Naresh Satyan, Janet Scheel, and Mark Scheel) attempted a thorough and intensive coverage of the entire Piute Ponds area as part of Western Field Ornithologists' Spring Birdathon. Nicknamed the Piute Ponds Yacht Club, our team ended up tallying 107 species through the day, with highlights including continuing Tundra Bean-Goose and Pacific Golden-Plover, several Purple Martins, a Black Swift, and LeConte's Thrasher.
A Trip Report with complete species list is here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/123975 The narrative for the trip report is also pasted below.
And here is the link to our team's web page on the WFO Birdathon website: https://wfo.securesweet.com/teampage.aspfundid=979#.ZFMQinbMJD8
Kimball Garrett Juniper Hills, CA
Our seven Piute Ponds Yacht Clubbers gathered at the
entrance gate to Piute Ponds before 5:30 on Tuesday morning, May 2 nd ,
heading to their respective counting areas. Predicted strong westerly winds
proved accurate, which we viewed as a mixed blessing (more difficult birding
conditions, but the likelihood of more grounded migrant landbirds and
waterbirds). Anticipating this wind, we debated the most appropriate theme
songs for our group, settling on Ducks in the Wind (with apologies to Kansas)
and (The Anser is) Blowin in the Wind (with apologies to Bob Dylan). It
was a chilly start (around 48 deg F), and only warmed to the low 60s during the
day. John Birsner counted the Ducks Unlimited pond area, Janet and Mark Scheel
covered Big Piute and Thoreau ponds and adjacent desert areas, Naresh Satyan
covered desert habitats west of the pond complex, and Kimball Garrett, Chris Dean
and Jon Feenstra began coverage of the Ave C trees and shrubs and Duckbill Pond
(with Chris later heading down to some of the southern ponds and Jon trekking
through desert and small seasonal pond areas from north of Duckbill to San
Miguel Lagoon). This is probably the most thorough coverage Piute has received
on a single day.

A couple of Lesser Nighthawks right at dawn were a relief,
as this removed the obligation of having to stay until dusk for that
crepuscular species. Two hoped-for
stakeouts were spotted early on at Duckbill: the long-staying Tundra
Bean-Goose that divides its time between Piute and the nearby Lancaster Water
Treatment Plant but thankfully chose to stay at Piute this day with its Greater
White-fronted Goose companion, and the Pacific Golden-Plover present for its
fifth day. The Scheels came through with the always-hard-to-find LeContes
Thrasher southeast of Big Piute. Seventeen species of shorebirds and fifteen
species of waterfowl padded our list. Landbird migrants were in moderate
numbers and diversity, with seven warblers, eight flycatchers, and a slam of
seven swallow species, including several Purple Martins. The winds which
bottled up these swallows also produced many Vauxs Swifts and a single Black
Swift. Wintering sparrows had largely departed and we were fortunate to get
late Lincolns, Savannah and White-crowned Sparrows along with the resident
Song and Bells Sparrows. Other late migrants we squeaked by with included a
Ruby-crowned Kinglet and a couple of American Pipits. Other birds of interest
included White-faced Ibis, Swainsons Hawk, Loggerhead Shrike, Cactus Wren, and
Yellow-headed and Tricolored Blackbirds. And throughout the day was the
constant backdrop of marsh bird sounds, including Marsh Wrens, Common Yellowthroats,
Virginia Rails, and Soras.

Big misses Where were the Great Blue Herons And any terns
Fortunately the late afternoon efforts finally produced a Greater Roadrunner
and Peregrine Falcon, preventing another couple of disappointing misses.

The Piute Ponds Yacht Club is proud to be supporting Western
Field Ornithologists, and we thank our many generous donors. We had a great time, and by the end of the
day we were already plotting another thorough avi-blitz of Piute Ponds during
the peak of fall shorebird migration.