An error caused the bird sightings submission form to fail sometime in Fall 2010. This error was repaired and as of 3/14/11, the form is working properly. Please resume posting your Mono Basin bird and wildlife sightings!

This post was submitted by MLC Administrator.

Date of sighting: 2/13/11

Early February, a large flock of California Gulls sleeping on Mono Lake between Rush Creek and South Tufa. Also two Hooded Mergansers.

This post was submitted by Greg Reis.

Date of sighting: September 15

There is a Yellow-breasted Chat in the MLC annex alley in Lee Vining right outside my window in the Juniper tree. I have now seen it the second day in a row, same tree, both times in the afternoon. Great distraction from my computer screen!

This post was submitted by Stella Moss.

Date of sighting: September 6, 2010

We saw a juvinal Western Kingbird just west of the Lee Vining Delt on Monday afternoon. It was moving around the shoreline flycatching with a Say’s Phoebe. The Lark Sparrow was seen at County Park in the rose thickets near the bridge that crosees the dry creek over to the picnic area from the parking lot.

This post was submitted by Stella Moss.

Date of sighting: August 28, 2010

Photos Attached.

This post was submitted by Kevin Sea.

Date of sighting: August 28, 2010

The Birding the East Side Field Seminar led by David Lukas saw a Ruddy Turnstone at Crowley Lake on Saturday, August 28, 2010.  Photos are attached, one with a Semipalmated Plover in the foreground.

This post was submitted by Kevin Sea.

Date of sighting: late August

Hello again,

Despite a rather dismal year for Mono Lake’s California Gulls that resulted in us banding very very few this year, use of individually numbered color bands has already resulted in detections!

As of August 31, at least two juvenile Mono Lake California Gulls were detected on Southeast Farallon Island. SEFI is a small rocky island located 30 miles west of San Francisco, out in the Pacific Ocean rather near the continental shelf drop off. Last year while I stayed there, I scanned roosting flocks of California Gulls searching for ones we had color banded. They turined out to be relatively easy to find! That year, all chicks had the same color band combination, so we could not determine the number of individuals my sightings there represented.

On SEFI in fall, hundreds of California Gulls gather to roost on the island for the night. We don’t know from how far they come to roost here. Each evening, a biologist counts them as they stream in to the island after having spent the day foraging out in the open ocean. This year, I have asked the folks there to do additional daily searches for color-banded California Gulls, and thankfully they are doing so. And they are seeing them!  The chicks only fledged 3-4 weeks previously! They are detecting many more color banded gulls that hatched from the south San Francisco Bay colony than Mono. The SF Bay colony had a pretty good year this year, their breeding population was larger than Mono’s (and this colony before 1980 never existed) – 500 chicks were banded in SF, vs. barely 200 at Mono (vs. 756 banded at Mono last year in the same plots that only yielded 200 this year).

With the use of individually numbered color bands, we will be able to see how long individual birds return to SEFI to roost. As of Aug. 31, they had already seen two Mono Lake California Gulls (#005 and 075). One percent of the total we banded, and I’m sure more will be seen as fall progresses. And, the area where they roost is probably about 50 acres or less. And hundreds of miles away from Mono Lake. I think we are on the cusp of discovering that a large proportion of California-born California Gulls, at least, visit Southeast Farallon Island, which is a tiny little speck considering the distance and the number of gull detections seen so far. Very exciting.

This post was submitted by Kristie Nelson.

Date of sighting: Aug. 18

Hi follks,

I recently got a forwarded report that a juvenile California Gull from Mono Lake was found dead at Trinidad head, in Humboldt County, California on August 17. It is amazing that for such a long-lived animal (see older post of the 26-year-old gull on the Mono Lake colony) those chicks are independent so quickly. It had been banded as a chick in early July. We even banded some late chicks this year Aug. 1!

Last year, a color-baned healthy juvenile Mono gull was seen and photographed near Morro Bay, CA in August as well. What made that one go south and this one north is interesting and puzzling. But they are highly pelagic (ocean-going) and probably following oceanic upwellings. Think about that next time you see a gull on Mono Lake!

This post was submitted by Kristie Nelson.

Date of sighting: July 27-28, 2010

On July 28 I birded the northwest corner of Crowley Lake. Two Common Loons, one in basic plumage, one in alternate were the most noteworthy sightings.  There was also a Willet, Long-billed Curlew, 4 Least Sandpipers and 6 Marbled Godwits amongst the avocets and pelicans.  Caspian and Forster’s Terns were present.  About a dozen White-faced Ibis fed in the wet swale.  Most of the phalaropes were Red-necked, surprisingly.

On the same day there was one Evening Grosbeak at Lower Deadman Campround.  Almost everywhere I stopped between Mammoth Lakes and Berger’s Retreat above Lee Vining Canyon had 2-5 Red Crossbills, some making distinctive ‘kip-kip churee’ calls.

On July 27 there was a Gray-crowned Rosy Finch at Long Lake, accessible from Mosquito Flat(Rock Creek).  On July 29 3-5 rosy finches were at and above Gaylor Lakes in Yosemite NP.  I regret never having visited this wonderful alpine setting in dozens of trips across Tioga Pass!  Check it out.

This post was submitted by David Wimpfheimer.

Date of sighting: July 24, 2010

At about 5:20pm, on July 24, a few minutes after my group left the end of the boardwalk at the county park I watched a Black Tern fly in from the east and then land.  In was at the shore for about three minutes where I photographed it in comparison to nearby Wilson’s Phalaropes.  It then flew to the west circled back to the east and did not return.

This post was submitted by David Wimpfheimer.