Pasadena Audubon Society
Where to Bird: Peck Pit, Arcadiaby Jon Fisher
While it’s difficult to dismiss the appeal of such birding hot spots as Morongo Valley, the San Bernardino Mountains, McGrath and the Salton Sea, there are plenty of places closer to home that offer excellent birding opportunities.Peck Pit is just such a place. It’s an unpolished (even dirty) gem offering really good birding. It can be a bit trashy at times – literally – but aesthetics be damned! We are looking for birds, wherever they may be.
The Pit (officially known as the Peck Road Water Conservation Area) is a nondescript puddle of water surrounded by some clumps of willow and other scrubby brush, but mostly barren shore. It is a favorite of local fishermen, and occasionally supports a birder or two.
Walk clock-wise around the lake from the parking lot, birding the thickets and grassy areas. There are two nice well-developed willow patches, one on the west side and one at the north end (best accessed from the street parking). From the north end, you can either retrace your steps, or hop the fence and walk back to the parking lot along Myrtle Avenue. Winter is the best time to visit – birds have included Swamp Sparrow, Gray Flycatcher, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Plumbeous Solitary Vireo, Ross’ Goose, Glaucous-winged Gull, and others. Palm Warblers are regular winter visitors, with one or two usually to be found in the scrub along the southwest shore of the lake.
The variety is terrific. American Pipits, Savannah Sparrows and Western Meadowlarks can be found in the open areas, with Black-throated Gray and Yellow (rare) Warblers less than a hundred yards away in the willows.
Now turn your attention and binoculars to the water and view American Wigeon, Lesser Scaup and Ring-necked Ducks, Northern Shoveler, Canada Geese and Snowy Egrets, Eared, Western and Clark’s Grebes. Several Spotted Sandpip-ers can usually be seen as they patrol the lake edges. Osprey are virtually always present, with up to three in the air at once! Merlin are regular here.
Even summer can be interesting. Barn Swallows have nested nearby. Hooded and Bullock’s Orioles are also present. Lesser Nighthawks, presumably nesting in the alluvial scrub further up the San Gabriel River Wash, can be seen foraging at dusk in the summer. And, of course, the exotics are always around – Orange Bishops, Nutmeg Mannikens, Red-crowned Parrots and Yellow-chevroned Parakeets are the most regularly seen. Great-tailed Grackles are also being encountered at the Pit with some fre-quency. Peck Pit is normally rather calm during spring and fall migration, with a smattering of regular migrants usually present. Of course, any body of water such as this hosts hordes of swallows in late winter and early spring. Vaux’s Swifts can be found during migration and occasionally in winter. Blackpoll Warbler and Clay-colored Sparrow have also been recorded here in fall.
The Peck Road Water Conservation Area is located at 5401 Peck Road, south of Live Oak in Arcadia. The entrance to the parking lot is usually open by 7:30 am, but you can park on the street and walk in earlier than that.
Not only is the variety great at Peck Pit, but it’s conveniently close, and easy to bird in just a few hours.
Jon Fisher
URL: http://www.PasadenaAudubon.org/peckpit.html | Email: paudubon@yahoo.com