Date: 12/23/25 7:46 am From: Kimball Garrett via groups.io <cyanolyca818...> Subject: [LACoBirds] Two underbirded wetland "Hotspots" in the Antelope Valley
Birders,
Well worth checking if you are in or passing through the Antelope Valley are two wetland habitats that are eBird hotspots but so far have very little coverage.
West of the 14 Freeway is the Upper Amargosa Creek Recharge Project, a series of ponds (ranging from dry to full and variable through the year) with a good trail system around all the ponds as well as the Amargosa Creek channel with its marshy growth. The ponds are located on the north side of Elizabeth Lake Road (the western extension of Palmdale Blvd.) at 25th Street West (also called Highland Ave.), about two miles west of the Antelope Valley Fwy. Ultimately this site is to be developed into a larger park (also serving its main function as a groundwater recharge basin) but for the time being it is not heavily utilized by the public. There is parking available at the entrance to the ponds, along the east side of Highland (25th St .West). For more information and recent bird lists, see: https://ebird.org/hotspot/L53266794
East of Hwy 14, in Littlerock, are the extensive Little Rock gravel extraction pits. There are several semi-permanent ponds and some riparian and marsh growth within this complex. The gravel works are fenced and OFF LIMITS to the public, but with a scope one can view the ponds along the eastern border of the complex. There is a pullout where one can park on the north (west-bound) side of Hwy 138 (Pearblossom Hwy) about 100 meters west of the Little Rock Creek bridge, Exercise EXTREME CAUTION when pulling off the highway into this small dirt pullout, and BE ESPECIALLY CAREFUL when pulling back out onto the highway when exiting the area -- the pullout is located on a curve and traffic moves very fast here. An alternative would be to park off the highway east of the Little Rock Creek bridge and walk west to the gravel operation fenceline. From the southeast corner of the complex walk north along the east fenceline and use the various higher berms to position your scope to view the ponds. After a while you will reach an east/west fence line from which you can view the more northeasterly ponds. By following the fenceline (and Little Rock Creek which parallels the fenceline to the east) you could work almost all the way north to Ave T. It would be great to have more year-round coverage of this site, but again PLEASE keep the above cautions in mind. And DO NOT enter the complex through the fence, even though there are a couple of gaps in the fence that are tempting. The gravel pits are deep and the sides are steep. Here is the hutspot information: https://ebird.org/hotspot/L25664306
