Last Chance, Anton playas, & Bonny (Washington, Yuma)
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Hugh Kingery
Oct 3, 2014, 4:37:01 PM10/3/14
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On Thursday (Oct. 2), inspired by Bill Kaempfer's enthusiastic post, Urling & I headed north (for us) and east to Last Chance, the Anton playas, & the Bonny Dam cottonwood nursery.
Last Chance (7:30 am & 4 p.m.) had as few species as we've ever seen there - 5 species noisy Collared-Doves, 20Gambel's White-crowned Sparrows, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and an Orange-crowned Warbler. The playas, which seem to have diminished in number since Bill counted 100, had an interesting mix. At HH road, one had at least 750 ducks - all dabblers but most too far a way for ID though we tallied 6 dabbling species plus coot. 3-4 Northern Harriers harassed the ducks at each playa. At JJ, some shorebirds and also some at the next playa: 7 species, the majority Long-billed /Dowitchers (32) (as far as we could tell) and Lesser Yellowlegs (40). Also 2 Black-bellied Plovers in the road, along with 4 American Pipits.
Bonny fascinated us: no visible water in the 'reservoir' but lots of cottonwoods growing up where the water used to hold waterbirds. You can still drive into the campground area and walk the 'shores' though, at lunchtime, we saw few birds. A Great Horned Owl, 3 Blue Jays, 1 Orange-crowned & 5 Audubon's Warblers. One White-breased Nuthatch of unknown denomination. No pipits, only Horned Larks, on the two-track north of Hale.
Butterflied best: Monarch, Question Mark, & sulphurs.
On the way back we checked the playas a second time, and stopped at the old, traditional US36 pre-Anton playa which had 9 ducks of 4 species: Mallard, BW/Cin Teal, Green-winged Teal, & a handsome male Wood Duck .
Thanks, Bill for encouraging us to go out there. Do these playas fill up every year, or have the 2014 rains created something unique? [The road dept. expects them, judging by the signs to beware of high water.]
Urling thought, wouldn't it be terrific if someone took the school kids out there when these playas fill up and showed them the wildlife that use them.
Last Chance (7:30 am & 4 p.m.) had as few species as we've ever seen there - 5 species noisy Collared-Doves, 20Gambel's White-crowned Sparrows, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and an Orange-crowned Warbler. The playas, which seem to have diminished in number since Bill counted 100, had an interesting mix. At HH road, one had at least 750 ducks - all dabblers but most too far a way for ID though we tallied 6 dabbling species plus coot. 3-4 Northern Harriers harassed the ducks at each playa. At JJ, some shorebirds and also some at the next playa: 7 species, the majority Long-billed /Dowitchers (32) (as far as we could tell) and Lesser Yellowlegs (40). Also 2 Black-bellied Plovers in the road, along with 4 American Pipits.
Bonny fascinated us: no visible water in the 'reservoir' but lots of cottonwoods growing up where the water used to hold waterbirds. You can still drive into the campground area and walk the 'shores' though, at lunchtime, we saw few birds. A Great Horned Owl, 3 Blue Jays, 1 Orange-crowned & 5 Audubon's Warblers. One White-breased Nuthatch of unknown denomination. No pipits, only Horned Larks, on the two-track north of Hale.
Butterflied best: Monarch, Question Mark, & sulphurs.
On the way back we checked the playas a second time, and stopped at the old, traditional US36 pre-Anton playa which had 9 ducks of 4 species: Mallard, BW/Cin Teal, Green-winged Teal, & a handsome male Wood Duck .
Thanks, Bill for encouraging us to go out there. Do these playas fill up every year, or have the 2014 rains created something unique? [The road dept. expects them, judging by the signs to beware of high water.]
Urling thought, wouldn't it be terrific if someone took the school kids out there when these playas fill up and showed them the wildlife that use them.
Hugh Kingery
Franktown, CO
Franktown, CO
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