Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.

A great season of County Park bird walks

Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.
A Yellow-headed … Blackbird! Photo courtesy of Ben Winger.

This post was written by Erica Tucker, 2012 Birding Intern.

It’s a beautiful fall morning at Mono Lake County Park. I hear a Killdeer calling overhead from the cottonwood trees. No, wait—that would be a European Starling doing an excellent imitation!

I’m in my final month of leading public bird walks as the Mono Lake Committee Birding Intern. Has it really been five months since I rolled into town, nervous about whether I could sort out the sparrows from the finches, especially when in front of a group? I had a steep learning curve while leading my first-ever bird walks, and maybe I did shout out “Yellow-headed Woodpecker!” to one of my first groups as a vivid bird flew past. (“That would be Yellow-headed BLACKBIRD,” they gently corrected me).

Lots of practice alone and with local experts has increased my confidence, and each week I saw new birds and was asked new questions that begged for more research and knowledge. Do Osprey mate for life? (Yes.) When were Starlings introduced in the US? (1891.) How do you tell Dusky Flycatchers from Gray Flycatchers? (I don’t know, still figuring that out!)

It has been a joy to be in one area for several months, and to have the opportunity to watch the local birds through a whole season of courtship, nesting, feeding, fledging, and migration. Some of my old friends have already left for the season—one week there were Violet-green Swallows, and then none the next. But then new birds arrived—Lewis’s Woodpeckers eating apples are the star this week! I have seen 75 species in the County Park so far this summer, and it’s always a mystery as to which birds will show themselves for a group. My group saw a Great Horned Owl in County Park only one Friday—did it watch us pass week after week while remaining hidden in the trees?

There are just two public walks remaining this fall, on the final two Fridays of September at 8:00am. Will you join me and be added to the 179 bird walk participants this year?

One comment

  1. The Gray Flycatcher, while perched, moves his/her tail “Up-down, Up-down,” etc., like a Black Phoebe; whereas the Dusky Flycatcher moves his/her tail “Down-up,Down-up” etc. Thank you for being there for the Mono Lake Committee and the birds. I may make it to your Walk on the 28th of September.
    Take care and Good birding,