Naturalist Notes
A Mono Basin Chronicle
April: The buzz of spring is dampened by neither wind nor stormy weather ... a male evening grosbeak in full breeding plumage visits the barely-budding apple tree in the Committee garden ... violet-green swallows are back in force ... joined by tree swallows and bank swallows ... out at north shore ponds cinnamon teals, green-winged teals, and a lone gadwall ... a prairie falcon, loggerhead shrike, black phoebe, lesser yellowlegs, and some short-billed dowitchers distinguished from their longer-billed relatives by their call ... an early sighting of yellow-headed blackbirds ... a northern mockingbird in town for a visit ... two slate-colored dark-eyed juncos and a varied thrush near June Lake ... 21 turkey vultures soaring lazily over the bluffs ... cattle are a force to be reckoned with both on highway 167 and out in the sage-scrub on the north shore ... American avocets, black-bellied plovers, least and western sandpipers, and snowy plovers are busy along the shoreline ... the winter wren still lingering could be the latest record for Mono County ... no-see-ums are making their presence known ... the rising lake has created a pumice berm that has isolated long brackish lagoons full of algae and alkalai fly larvae ... California gulls patter their feet along lagoon edges, making their meals rise to the surface ... a hooded-oriole and three hooded mergansers spotted by travelers passing through ... a peregrine falcon on a snag on the north shore, a solitary sandpiper, a bald eagle perched atop a tufa on the south shore, and a flock of 70 cormorants were a few of the highlights from the shorebird count on April 24 ... trees, shrubs, and flowers are just starting to leaf along the creek trail. May: Warmer weather brings the sounds, smell, and colors of spring ... yellow-rumped warblers catch your eye no matter how fast they move ... county park is bustling with birds, and the short walk down to the waters’ edge may leave you wondering what happened to the little bridge through the thicket where the soras used to hide ... double-crested cormorants stick out next to the California gulls off shore ... mountain bluebirds are quite a treat to the eye as well ... horned larks line meadows and fill the air with their beautiful song if you slow down long enough to listen ... a visit from a black-headed grosbeak ... sunsets are starting to look and feel like summer, and it is just warm enough to stay outside to watch the stars and planets appear ... Mars is bright at dusk, 54 million miles away, and the closest it will be until August of 2001 ... April showers have brought the desert peach (Prunus andersonii), bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata), mule ears (Wyethia mollis), Western wallflower (Erysimum capitatum), and lupine (Lupinus argenteus) to bloom ... and one can’t help but to wonder when we’ll hear the exciting sound of the Lee Vining creek at peak flow here in town.
Return to Summer 1999 Newsletter
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