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Mono Lake Committee
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From: Kristie Nelson, from Chris
Date: 11 Jan 2008
Time: 10:32:30 -0500
Remote Name: 65.241.2.253
Sorry this is so late - my fault. This is from Kristie Nelson: The 29th Mono Basin Christmas Bird Count carried out on Saturday Dec 22, 2007 was a success. Although only in the single digits in the morning, luckily the poconip never set up in full, so by late morning we were under crisp, clear skies with the unbelievable backdrop of mountains and high desert. Each party was able to contribute at least one species not seen by the rest, and in total, 61 species were observed. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this years count! On the southern edge of the circle, Chcris McCreedy saw a lonely HORNED LARK, a COOPER’S HAWK chasing a mountain chickadee, a PRARIE FALCON, and not one, but 2 NORTHERN PYGMY-OWLS! Jerry Zatorski and Marybeth Hennessey birded lower Lee Vining creek as well as Horseshoe meadows and Bohler Canyon. An AMERICAN TREE SPARROW was a lifer for Jerry as it is seldom detected and easily missed. They pulled out a lone AMERICAN WIGEON – the only one detected on the count, and talliled a whopping 29 Stellar’s Jays! Paul McFarland skied up to the Warren bench (Todd Vogel who was to accompany Paul unfortunately got sick just before the count) and saw a WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER – only the third year the species has been seen on the count, last time which was 1987! Don Banta counted 11 TUNDRA SWANS roosting out on Mono Lake along with a nice variety of other waterfowl. Swans are seldom encountered on the CBC, and have not been seen on it since 2000. Rita kept watch at the Banta’s feeders and kept count of Lee Vining’s increasing population of EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES (up to 13), and has even had a Hairy Woodpecker with a band frequenting the suet feeder! Deanna and Wangdowa tore it up from Conway ranch, along Wilson creek, and the Dechambeau Ranch area. Their highlights include a FOX SPARROW – only reported on 5 previous CBC’s, and two ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, including one which was a beautiful, relatively rare DARK-morph individual, and 2 GREAT-HORNED OWLS flying around the Dechambeau Ranch. Bartshe birded Lundy Canyon and Mill creek while Kelly worked at ski patrol this year. He saw the CBC’s only RING-NECKED DUCKS in some scarce unfrozen water with Mallards, a WINTER WREN (a Lundy specialty in recent years), a Belted Kingfisher, and another WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKER. As mentioned above, this was only the third time White-headed has been reported, and this year we had two! Kristie Nelson tackled the north shore and Dechambeau pond area. An adult GOLDEN EAGLE flew by in the AM when she was scraping ice off the windshield. She was jinxed out of a short-eared owl this year, but was lucky to find an immature SNOW GOOSE among a flock of Canadian Geese out on Mono Lake(only the 3rd time snow goose has been seen on a Mono CBC). 3 NORTHERN SHOVELERS at the ponds were the only ones detected on the count, and a lone GULL was just a little too far to positively identify (California and Ring-billed are about equally likely in winter). Janet and Ilene strolled through lee Vining Canyon near the meadows by the Aspen, etc campgrounds and found a new species for the count – a female HOODED MERGANSER! Her hood was fully “flared” and must have been quite a sight. Unfortunately Janet had just turned back and missed it. Santiago and Dave Marquart birded county park and Thompson meadows. They saw a WILSON’S SNIPE (how do they probe the ground when it’s frozen?), a whopping total of 6 Bewick’s wrens (not bad for one location, they are apparently much more common now then they were described to be in the Gaines' book). They also saw 2 KILLDEER, always special and easily missed on a CBC. Some additional species have been seen during COUNT WEEK – the week spanning just before and after the CBC day. These species are additionally recorded in the National Audubon Society CBC database, as they are additional indications of the region’s winter avifauna. Count week additions include: Bufflehead Bald Eagle Hermit Thrush American Dipper Ruby-crowned Kinglet