Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve great place to see avian visitors

Springtime rates as the top season for spotting a wide variety of birds in the desert. One of the best places for bird watching in our area is the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve just off Sunset Road, east of Boulder Highway, at 2400 Moser Drive. Birders list more than 200 species of birds, both resident and visitors, at the site on the grounds of the Henderson Wastewater Reclamation Facility. When you first arrive, you may notice odors from the treatment plant, but most visitors soon get used to them and stop noticing.

Visitors enter the preserve free of charge daily from 6 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. The park closes at 3 p.m. Please leave pets at home. Park in the paved, landscaped parking lot and enter the preserve through the visitor center, where you register. Peruse the brochures, books and other bird-related materials available in the small gift shop.

Personnel on duty share their knowledge of the kinds of birds currently at the preserve. They will provide you with a preserve map and a list of known avian visitors and residents. If you do not have a bird guidebook or a pair of binoculars, ask if there are any available for loan. The helpful people at the desk may even offer a spray of bug repellent if pesky gnats or mosquitoes are on hand outside, though light breezes usually disperse them. In late afternoon and at night, many kinds of birds and bats feast upon the insects.

Close to the visitor center, a few picnic tables invite visitors to enjoy a snack and beverage. Many visitors arrive early in the day with coffee in hand to witness migrating waterfowl lifting off the ponds to continue their springtime flights northward. Please do not share your breakfast or snack crumbs with the birds as these wild creatures need to stay independent of humans to survive.

The 140-acre facility contains nine ponds accessed by landscaped walking trails that are wheelchair accessible. Landscaping with native plants encourages native species -- such as roadrunners, ground squirrels, lizards and the occasional coyote or desert swift fox -- to become residents. Park planners located benches at frequent intervals along the trail routes to provide places for quiet observation.

Although hundreds of birds are just passing through, many species use the ponds and marshes at the preserve for nesting and raising young. The waterfowl hatchlings begin to appear this month. Visitors soon get to observe the babies following their mothers in the water and sometimes hitching a ride on their backs.

Keep a sharp eye on the shrubbery around the ponds and along the fences for families of quail, cottontails and jackrabbits whose young appear later in spring. All these signs of new life do not escape the attention of winged predators. Watch for hawks, falcons and eagles patrolling overhead.

When the city of Henderson located its sewage treatment facility on remote property at the edge of the town decades ago, unintended consequences followed. In the series of settlement ponds the city built, they created irresistible attractions for the thousands of birds winging overhead along major migratory routes across the desert. Before long, birders discovered that some of the best bird watching in the region could be found year-round at the Henderson facility.

The city accommodated local bird enthusiasts by allowing access to the site. Soon, the idea of a formal birding facility emerged. In cooperation with the Red Rock Audubon Society, the city began to develop plans in 1995. It enhanced the existing pond habitat, left vegetation in place around the margins, created protected islands and postponed draining of ponds until after nesting season. The city laid out trails, planted native plants and trees, and installed benches, tables and signs.

The Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve opened as a premier birding resource in May 1998. Development continued with construction of the visitor center, improvements in parking and planting trees for shade. The Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve will be among special sites selected for outings during the first Wings and Wildlife Festival in Laughlin Thursday through March 15.

Margo Bartlett Pesek's column appears on Sundays.