The main theme of this program is to observe a wide variety of birds by visiting several habitats. However, there is also a secondary focus on taking the time to appreciate plants and other aspects of the area’s rich natural history. The pace will be less frantic than other big day birding tours so there will be more time to focus on bird identification by sight, sound, and behavior. The group will concentrate on the southern part of the Mono Basin; from conifer forest above the June Lake Loop to riparian woodland, to sagebrush steppe and the Jeffrey pine burn area near Mono Mills. Please bring your hand-held radios for communication between vehicles if you have them. We will be out all day so be sure to bring lunch, sunscreen, and plenty of water.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 6:00am-4:00pm
Instructor: David Wimpfheimer
Meeting location: CCF A
Difficulty rating: easy
Driving distance: 110 miles
How do plants and animal populations adapt to changes (elevation, aspect, temperature, precipitation) from Mono Lake to Tioga Pass? What adaptations do individual species have which enable life at a given elevation? How do plant communities change from Mono Basin to riparian zones to Pinyon/Juniper to Montane forests to sub-alpine forests, to the alpine environment? Join Todd for a tour of these varied habitats, starting at Mono’s shoreline and ending in the high-elevation Tioga Pass region.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 6:00am-12:00pm
Instructor: Todd Wanner
Meeting location: CCF B
Difficulty rating: difficult
Driving distance: 30 miles
Wildrose Canyon is an isolated riparian corridor and aspen grove in the Glass Mountain Range that hosts a variety of awesome species along its mile-long stretch—Calliope Hummingbird, Plumbeous Vireo, Cooper’s Hawk, MacGillivray’s Warbler, Dusky Flycatcher, and Lazuli Buntings are some species you may see. There is a chance to see (or hear) the elusive Virginia’s Warbler. We’ll focus on intermediate-advanced aural and visual birding skills, behavioral observation skills, and natural history of the species we encounter. Be prepared for potentially rugged and uneven terrain, as the unmaintained dirt road often washes out with spring runoff. Join Will on a walk up this gem of a canyon—it’s worth the drive! Bring water and sun protection, as well as snacks or lunch.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 6:00am-12:00pm
Instructor: Will Richardson
Meeting location: CCF C
Difficulty rating: moderate
Driving distance: 100 miles
Join a Yosemite Conservancy Naturalist for an exploration of birds in the alpine and subalpine zones in Yosemite and their interactions with the flora and fauna. While looking for birds, we’ll explore such topics as the vital relationship between Clark’s Nutcracker and Whitebark Pines, Mountain Chickadee and Lodgepole needle Miner Moth larvae, Mountain Bluebird and Williamson’s Sapsucker, Mountain Chickadee and nuthatches. What benefits do the Gray-crowned Rosy-finch and Clark’s Nutcracker reap from efforts to remove non-native fish from high elevation lakes? With stops at Tioga Pass and Tuolumne Meadows, we’ll get a mix of open meadows, lodgepole pine forest, riparian zones, alpine, and subalpine. Bring a lunch, water, warm layers, and a full gas tank. Strong sunscreen, UV sunglasses, and a sun hat are important equipment for the high elevations. The park entry fee will be waived for this educational excursion.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 6:00am-12:00pm
Instructor: Andrea Canapary
Meeting location: CCF D
Difficulty rating: difficult
Driving distance: 70 miles
Crowley Lake Reservoir, cradled in the Long Valley Caldera and formed by the damming of the Owens River, offers spectacular views of the High Sierra to the west and the Glass Mountain and White Mountain ranges to the east. Crowley is nestled amid a mix of sagebrush, wet meadows, and small alkali lakes, attracting a variety of breeding and migrant waterbirds. June is the peak of the breeding season, so we should see several species of nesting ducks, shorebirds, and grebes, plus some over-summering non-breeders and late migrants. We will also view a variety of swallow species, enjoy the beautiful song of the Sage Thrasher, the subtle beauty of the Brewer’s Sparrow, and if we are really lucky, run into some Bi-State Greater Sage-Grouse. Bring snacks, water, sunscreen, and layers.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 6:00am-12:00pm
Instructor: Rodd Kelsey
Meeting location: CCF E
Difficulty rating: easy
Driving distance: 80 miles
The Bodie Hills form the northern boundary of the Mono Basin and provide excellent habitat for the Bi-State Sage Grouse, a genetically distinct population of the Greater Sage Grouse, and many other birds and wildlife species. We will spend the morning exploring two historic mine sites and birding in aspen, sagebrush, and meadow habitats. Then we’ll go over the Geiger Grade to explore high elevation shrub habitats looking out for sagebrush species, and if we are lucky, view pronghorn antelope. Targets of the trip include Sage Grouse, Mountain Quail, Western Tanager, Common Nighthawk, and several species of warbler, wren, flycatcher, and vireo. The route includes exceptional views of the Sierra Nevada and surrounding mountain ranges. Bring sunscreen, water, lunch, and good walking shoes. This trip involves extensive driving on dirt roads, and it is necessary to carpool due to limited parking along the route. High clearance vehicle required.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 6:30am-3:30pm
Instructor: Jora Fogg
Meeting location: CCF A
Difficulty rating: difficult
Driving distance: 80 miles
Join Keith and Al for an exploration of wetlands and lake habitats of Bridgeport Reservoir. Bridgeport Reservoir sits within beautiful Bridgeport Valley between the Sierra Nevada and the Sweetwaters. Waterfowl, grebes in courtship, terns, pelicans, and shorebirds grace the surface and shores of this popular fishing reservoir that also attracts a diversity of raptors such as Bald Eagle and Osprey. A pair of Sandhill Cranes has been nesting at Bridgeport Reservoir and there is a chance of seeing or hearing these rare Mono County birds. Participants typically see more than 60 species of birds on this field trip. Bring snacks, water, and sunscreen.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 6:30am-11:30am
Instructors: Keith Hansen & Al DeMartini
Meeting location: CCF B
Difficulty rating: easy
Driving distance: 65 miles
Come look for birds 9,700 feet above the sea! High in the mountains this 2.5-mile trail winds its way through red metamorphic rocky benches, past blue-green tarns and ruins from the days of the Great Sierra Consolidated Mining Company. Here, some unique birds breed while others pass through on their way to lower elevations. A flurry of development had this region growing from 1882–1884 though no gold was really ever found. Let’s search for the ghosts and the real treasure, and see what birds dare to spend summers way up here. Summer residents include Cassin’s Finch, White-crowned Sparrow, Clark’s Nutcracker, Chipping Sparrow, Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle, Williamson’s Sapsucker, Spotted Sandpiper, Townsends Solitaire, and many others. Bring a hat, sunscreen, warm layers, water, and snacks.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 6:30am-11:30am
Instructor: Karen Amstutz
Meeting location: CCF C
Difficulty rating: difficult
Driving distance: 22 miles
On this trip we’ll explore recently burned forests through both a scientific and an artistic lens. We’ll discuss exciting, new scientific findings based on searches for nests and Maya will share some of her new poetry along the way. We will look for snag-dependent birds like White-headed, Hairy, Lewis’s, and Black-backed Woodpeckers, Williamson’s Sapsucker and secondary cavity nesters like Mountain Bluebird and Tree Swallow. We’ll discuss the many ways that mixed-intensity fire supports biodiversity and ecological health in our conifer forests, and a habitat created by high intensity fire called complex early seral forest, which is the rarest, most biodiverse, and yet the most threatened of all forest habitat types in the Sierra Nevada. Bring snacks, water, and sunscreen. This trip requires driving on rough and sandy roads and it is recommended to take a 4WD or AWD vehicle with high clearance.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 6:30am-11:30am
Instructor: Maya Khosla
Meeting location: CCF D
Difficulty rating: moderate
Driving distance: 55 miles
Join professional bird photographer Bob Steele as we explore the finer points of digital bird photography to improve our skills. If you know your camera well and don’t need a lot of introduction on how to use it, this outing is for you. Topics discussed will include birds in flight, dealing with tricky light, getting close to difficult birds, and more. If you’ve just switched to mirrorless, or are seriously considering it, Bob will discuss the latest in mirrorless technology and the advantages in the field. Minimum equipment requirements for the workshop are a digital SLR body (or mirrorless) and a 300mm lens, but teleconverters, a tripod, and flash are also recommended if available. This trip will go to a different area than Bob’s Friday morning photo walk. Bring snacks, water, and sunscreen.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 7:00am-11:30am
Instructor: Bob Steele
Meeting location: CCF A
Difficulty rating: moderate
Driving distance: 22 miles
This half-day trip will explore the habitats and avifauna of the subalpine zone of the nearby Sierra. Areas we’ll explore include both Lower and Upper Virginia lakes, Virginia Lake Resort, Trumbull Campground and lake, and short trails nearby. Habitats include lodgepole pine forest; aspen and willow riparian and associated wet meadows; lakeshores and open water, and adjacent sagebrush-steppe. We’ll continue drive as far as 9800 feet and may walk up to about 10,000 feet. We hope to see a diverse assemblage of birds, and the scenery should be memorable. Species we may encounter include Western Tanager, Mountain Chickadee, Fox Sparrow (“Thick-billed” subspecies), and more. If luck is with us, we may see more elusive species like Western Flycatcher, Red Crossbill, or Gray-crowned Rosy-finch.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 7:00am-11:30am
Instructor: Dave Shuford
Meeting location: CCF B
Difficulty rating: moderate
Driving distance: 40 miles
Located above the town of Mammoth Lakes, Valentine Camp is a 156-acre property managed by the University of California at 8,000–8,500 feet. It has been protected from entry and grazing since the early 1900s and features remarkably pristine sub-alpine habitat. Birdlife is plentiful and varied here, particularly those birds who enjoy mature coniferous forests, mixed montane woodland, and sagebrush expanses. We have been granted special permission to access the property and will hike the private trails through this wonderland.
DIFFICULT HIKING. This trip involves walking on a narrow steep trail with some stairs with an elevation gain of approximately 500 feet. Not appropriate for persons with breathing, vertigo, or mobility concerns. Please wear sturdy hiking shoes. There will be mud. If you normally hike with poles, please bring them. Bring snacks, water, and sunscreen.
Entry to this field trip is done by lottery. Participants are required to sign a waiver of liability before entering the reserve. The last day to enter the lottery is April 3, 2026. You will be notified of results on April 6, 2026. ENTER THE LOTTERY HERE
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 7:00am-11:30am
Instructors: Chris & Rosie Howard
Meeting location: CCF C
Difficulty rating: very difficult
Driving distance: 60 miles
Horse Meadow is perched up among moraines south of Lee Vining Canyon, situated between stunning views of Mount Dana and Mount Gibbs, and a gorgeous, bird’s-eye view of Mono Lake. In this less-traveled area of the Mono Basin, our walk will explore Upper Horse Meadow and environs, including the mix of meadow, sagebrush, aspen, and conifer forest habitats, which often provides a wide range of bird sightings. Bring snacks, water, and sunscreen.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 7:30am-12:00pm
Instructor: Karyn “Kestrel” O’Hearn
Meeting location: CCF A
Difficulty rating: difficult
Driving distance: 15 miles
This beautiful driving loop has a variety of habitats—open water (lakes) with shorelines, aspen riparian, marsh (emergent vegetation), mountain sagebrush-scrub, and coniferous forest. The birds will vary with each habitat from waterbirds to woodpeckers. This is a drive with multiple stops and short strolls. Bring snacks, water, and sunscreen.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 7:30am-11:30am
Instructor: Jon Dunn
Meeting location: CCF B
Difficulty rating: easy
Driving distance: 30 miles
Lee Vining Canyon is one of the Eastern Sierra’s premier birding locations. It offers a variety of habitats and breathtaking views. Of particular interest is the habitat progression as Lee Vining Creek drains from the high alpine mountains of Yosemite and Tioga Pass down through the canyon and into the arid sagebrush scrub surrounding Mono Lake. American Dipper, Townsend’s Solitaire, Warbling Vireo, Yellow Warbler, and nuthatches are among the many species that we may see. Bring snacks, water, and sunscreen.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 7:30am-11:30am
Instructor: AnnaLisa Mayer
Meeting location: CCF C
Difficulty rating: moderate
Driving distance: 20 miles
Spend a morning enjoying birds and other wildlife in one of the Mono Basin’s most spectacular locations—Lundy Canyon. The mixture of aspen-cottonwood-willow riparian habitat with mature conifers provides prime habitat for a variety of Eastern Sierra birds. The awesome scenery, including displays of wildflowers, picturesque historical sites, beaver lodges, butterflies, and breathtaking rocky peaks should provide additional flavor to the outing. We will make a special effort to locate species of breeding birds as well as to locate birds by song. Bring snacks, water, and sunscreen.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 7:30am-11:30am
Instructor: Sarah Hockensmith
Meeting location: CCF D
Difficulty rating: moderate
Driving distance: 25 miles
Saline lakes of the Great Basin are some of the most chemically extreme and ecologically productive aquatic systems in western North America, and the shore flies (Ephydridae) that dominate their littoral zones are a big reason why. We’ll examine fly ecology in relation to substrate, water chemistry, and lake-level dynamics, with comparisons between Mono Lake and Great Salt Lake that illustrate how geology and hydrology drive invertebrate community structure. We’ll discuss natural history, monitoring methods, regional conservation issues, and Pacific flyway-scale implications for the species that depend on these lakes and their flies.
This trip draws on decades of firsthand research by Dr. David Herbst, who has studied Mono Lake invertebrate ecology since the landmark 1976 study. He has published widely on Great Basin saline lakes. Steve Root brings recent field experience as alkali fly research technician at Mono Lake, and Georgie Corkery contributes an active research perspective from Great Salt Lake’s brine fly program.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 7:30am-10:30am
Instructors: Dave Herbst, Georgie Corkery, Steve Root
Meeting location: CCF E
Difficulty rating: easy
Driving distance: 22 miles
This birding and natural history trip will explore the various habitats tucked between Mono Lake and the Bodie Hills. Granite boulders, willow thickets, aspen corridors, and expansive sagebrush are perfect perches for breeding bird species like Calliope Hummingbird, MacGillivray’s Warbler, and Green-tailed Towhee. Flowers and butterflies could be abundant. Bring snacks, water, and sunscreen.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 8:00am-12:00pm
Instructor: Nora Livingston
Meeting location: CCF A
Difficulty rating: moderate
Driving distance: 20 miles
Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep are a separate subspecies of bighorn sheep that have state and federal endangered species status. They were restored to the Mono Basin in 1986. In mid-June these sheep often use Lundy Canyon and it may be possible to spot them from the trail. John will lead the group there and discuss the history and challenges of restoration efforts for these sheep. Bring snacks, water, and sunscreen.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 8:00am-12:00pm
Instructor: John Wehausen
Meeting location: CCF B
Difficulty rating: very difficult
Driving distance: 100 mi
This field outing pairs well with Kayla and Ned’s Pinyon Jay community science presentation, which is helpful to attend but is not a prerequisite.
On this trip, participants will primarily be searching for Pinyon Jays in the Bodie foothills. There are many other exciting species to find in the pinyon-juniper woodlands of the Mono Basin, such as Cassin’s and Plumbeous Vireo, Green-tailed Towhee, Juniper Titmouse, and many more. On this walk, Ned and Kayla will go over how to collect and submit data using the free smartphone app, Survey 1,2,3, which allows anyone to be a community scientist. Join the team of over 400 volunteers across the western United States and help monitor these magnificent architects of pinyon pine ecosystems.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 8:00am-12:00pm
Instructors: Ned Bohman & Kayla Henry
Meeting location: CCF C
Difficulty rating: moderate
Driving distance: 60 miles
Join Ben and Bartshé along the shore of Mono Lake to learn about the fascinating natural history and imperiled status of unique saline ecosystems like Mono Lake and Great Salt Lake and their habitat value for the Great Basin and the Western Hemisphere. Watch Eared Grebes chase alkali flies on the rising waters of Mono Lake, learn about the colonies of California Gulls at Mono Lake and Great Salt Lake, and, if you’re lucky, catch a glimpse of a late spring or early fall migrant Wilson’s Phalarope. There is also the possibility of catching a glimpse of a Sage Thrasher or Sagebrush Sparrow. Bring snacks, water, and sunscreen.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 8:00am-12:00pm
Instructors: Bartshé Miller & Ben Abbott
Meeting location: CCF D
Difficulty rating: easy
Driving distance: 22 miles
Art, in the form of nature journaling, is one crucial way of documenting our surroundings in the face of climate change or changes proposed or implemented by the current administration. Journal documentation takes on a new level of importance and urgency and serves as proof in ways that written papers or sound bites can’t. This trip will take place in several locations such as lakeside habitats, meadow habitat, canyons, ruderal zones, and others. Your observational skills will be honed and your connection to nature deepened as we view and discuss what we see. Field journaling and art techniques include using watercolors, pencil or pen and journal, digital or phone cameras, even written or recorded words. Be sure to bring your preferred portable journaling supplies, a hat, sunscreen, snacks and water—and a sense of wonder.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 8:00am-11:30am
Instructor: Sue Jorgenson
Meeting location: CCF E
Difficulty rating: easy
Driving distance: 25 miles
Are you new to watching birds? Or are you perhaps the partner of an avid birder, willing to go along but not ready to call yourself a birder? And what’s with bird books: why aren’t the birds alphabetized? If some of the Chautauqua offerings seem over your head or beyond your patience, this is the program for you! We’ll go over some basic binocular information, practice using this equipment, and check out some different bird guides. We will be outdoors for this workshop. As we wander, we’ll look at some of the more common birds in and around Mono Lake, practice identifying them, and learn about their fascinating natural history. Mono Lake County Park and the DeChambeau Ponds are our territory, and we should see several varieties of woodpeckers, songbirds, swallows, and blackbirds. Bring snacks, water, and sunscreen.
Date: Saturday, June 20
Time: 8:30am-12:00pm
Instructor: Lacey Greene
Meeting location: CCF A
Difficulty rating: easy
Driving distance: 20 miles