Edwards AFB News

Edwards AFB's Piute Ponds feature wide variety of birds, wildlife

  • Published
  • By Kenji Thuloweit
  • 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Amid the high desert landscape that encompasses Edwards is a green oasis that provides a place for wildlife and exotic birds to flourish in peace.

Covering up to 600 acres on the base's southwest corner is Piute Ponds. The freshwater marsh is comprised of channels, dikes and evaporation ponds with water supplied from a Los Angeles County wastewater treatment plant.

"A lot of people are surprised when they first get here - it kind of comes out of the desert and all of a sudden you have a marsh that sneaks up on you," said Mark Hagan, an Edwards Environmental Management natural resource manager. "It's a really neat place with a lot of different things to see. It's a quiet and tranquil place."

The marsh attracts migratory birds because of its location along the Great Basin corridor of the Pacific Flyway - one of four major bird migration routes across the United States.
When migrating birds see water they tend to stop and take a break, especially in Antelope Valley.

Biologists on base say Piute Ponds is home to more than 200 species of birds, which brings out enthusiasts.

"It's the largest freshwater marsh in Los Angeles County so that draws a lot of birders," said Wanda Deal, a natural resource specialist at EM.

Recently, the ponds have been attracting even more bird watchers after a Little Stint was spotted.

"The Little Stint that's getting everyone's attention this year actually hails from Asia and Africa and breeds up in the Eurasian arctic," said Deal. "We don't normally see a bird like that here, but we get vagrant birds as they are blown in or lose their way somehow."

Jon Feenstra, a biological consultant and Wings Birding Tours Worldwide member, recently came out with a bird watching group. He has been coming out to the ponds for the past 10 years.

"I probably come out here at least once a week during July and August, which is the peak of shore bird migration," said Feenstra. "In winter there are tens of thousands of ducks and during the summer there's all sorts of different shore birds."

"There's been a lot of rare birds over the years that I've seen here. Saw a Stilt Sandpiper just this morning; last year there were Hudsonian Godwits; the list of rarities from this place is unusual and that keeps people coming out here. This is a pretty amazing place."

Coyotes, badgers, kit foxes, muskrats, raccoons, kangaroo rats and bobcats are animals that also inhabit the area.

Piute Ponds is located at the extreme southwest of Edwards off of Shuttle Road just east of the Edwards sign on Rosamond Blvd.

The ponds were created when Los Angeles County Sanitation District 14 placed a dike in the area to keep its effluent from reaching Rosamond dry lakebed. The ponds continue to be sustained with effluent from the District 14 Wastewater treatment plant.

Although the effluent has received some treatment at the plant, it is not recommended that people make physical contact with the water in the ponds.

The pond area has dirt roads for navigation, but a higher clearance vehicle would be best as the roads can get rugged in spots.

On base personnel can visit the unique ecosystem any time by calling Environmental Management at 277-1401.  Off-base residents can call 277-1401 to request a base access form to visit or to hunt on the ponds during the fall hunting season.

To read more about Piute Ponds, go to www.piuteponds.com.