Late May: Western fence lizards
in the Cowtrack Mountains ... Bald eagle soaring over
June Lake ... birds everywhere at County Park, 43 species
sighted including five swallow species, a warbling vireo,
Wilson's warblers, a sora, California quail, and a
black-headed grosbeak ... pair of American kestrals
surveying Lee Vining Creek ... white-crowned sparrow,
violet-green swallows ... western kingbirds at South
Tufa, along with a Wilson's warbler ... phalaropes
cruising at County Park ... 15 Bonaparte's gulls and two
Caspian terns at DeChambeau Ponds ... a thick chorus of
spadefoot toads on the north shore at dusk ... north
shore sighting of a yellow-breasted chat and a willow
flycatcher ... a cattle egret at County Park ... out on
Mono Lake, a black tern ... three golden eagles overhead
... desert peach (Purshia tridentata) blossoms
beginning to peak ... a few mimulus at Black
Point.
June: Warm weather finally here, now and then
... no-see-ums plentiful ... two ravens perched atop Mt.
Dana ... a solid trail of ants, one inch wide, all
crossing the road, destination unknown ... parent and
baby gopher snake ... jackrabbits and cottontails ... a
sizable summer tanager at County Park ... out in the
Jeffrey Pine forest, Lewis's woodpeckers, pinon jays,
Clark's nutcrackers, a white-breasted nuthatch, and four
long-eared owls ... ocean of lupine blooming amidst a sea
of sagebrush ... cedar waxwings passing through town ...
western wallflower (Erysimum occidentale) blooming
... a belted kingfisher and an American dipper at Mill
Creek ... creeks rising with snowmelt ... spadefoot toad
eggs in shallow puddles ... tent caterpillars covering
bitterbrush in some areas ... long-billed curlews at
South Tufa ... a white-tailed ptarmigan up in the Warren
Fork ... a black tern at Bridgeport Creek ...
orange-crowned warbler carrying food ... a shooting star
ceremony ... three great horned owl fledglings at South
Tufa ... night camping sounds: great horned owls,
northern pygmy owls, and a flammulated owl (?) ... a
surprising Philadelphia vireo sighting.
July: An eastern wood pewee, perhaps the first
sighted in the county ... a varied thrush ... sky pilot (Polemonium
eximium) on the high peaks ... white-tailed ptarmigan
on the Dana plateau ... mule deer on Negit Island, bats
too ... two magnificent frigatebirds sighted by gull
researchers ... greasewood (Sarcobatus vermiculatus)
beginning to flower ... long-tailed weasel at South Tufa
... longhorn steershead (Dicentra uniflora) in the
basin ... red-naped sapsucker ... Wilson's phalaropes
counted in the hundreds ... rufous hummingbirds ... Rush
Creek spilling over Gem and Agnew dams ... leopard lilies
(Lilium pardalinum), mountain heather (Phyllodoce
breweri), shooting star (Dodecatheon alpinum),
scarlet gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata), penstemon (Penstemon
spp.) galore, all in the Rush Creek drainage ... a
heavy dusting of snow at 11,000 feet ... mountain quail
on the Sierra moraines.
