Green grass with fluffy seed heads lines the shore of a lake, tufa formations are in the water offshore.

Category: Natural history

Tall evergreen trees line the yellow coast of a blue lake, and patches of ice surround the surface under bright sunlight.

Mono Lake Moment: Singing ice

Today’s Mono Lake Moment sits you down on the side of a frozen freshwater lake in the Mono Basin to listen to it sing and crack in the warming sun. The sounds shoot through the ice and rumble below the…

A brown hilly landscape dotted with evergreen trees slopes up into the dark and snow striped Sierra Nevada mountains against a blue sky.

Genny Smith memorial Mono Lake Moment

On Friday, November 27th at 11:00am PST, there will be a special Mono Lake Moment in memory of Genny Smith, the Naturalist Queen of the Eastern Sierra, who passed away in 2018. Genny played a key role in the protection…

A large group of tall, light brown tufa towers juts our of the dark green water into a cloudless blue sky. The towers' reflection ripples below.

Mono Lake Moment: Paddling through the tufa

Today’s Mono Lake Moment takes a paddle through the tufa towers. Most birds are gone, the lake is green with algae, and the silence is serene and deeply peaceful. Enjoy this unique perspective of the tufa towers while gliding over…

A close up of a gray bird sitting on a rock near green water.

Mono Lake Moment: American Dipper

I was lucky to capture this rare moment with an American Dipper, Cinclus mexicanus, along Lee Vining Creek. Dippers are the only songbird that swims, almost flying underwater to capture their aquatic prey. Find all the other Moments we have…