Category: Science

Phalarope surveys return to Mono Lake

One of my most influential early birding memories involved phalaropes. It was a family trip to Monterey Bay, California around Labor Day, and my sister and I had been interested in birds for a few years, but we weren’t what…

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory working at Mono Lake

NASA has been coming to Mono Lake for many years, and they are back on our shores once again. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) team arrived last Sunday and set up a mobile laboratory in the Mono Basin Scenic Area Visitor…

A view from above looking at water

Eared Grebe research at Mono Lake

The Mono Lake Committee is dedicated to the restoration of Mono Lake and recognizes Eared Grebes as one of the bird species of special significance due to the species’ historical and current reliance on Mono Lake. Since 2008, the Mono Lake…

Scientists with the USGS working in a boat with research equipment beside it in Mono Lake.

Mono Basin research ramps back up

As the world closed down in March 2020 in response to the worsening coronavirus pandemic, research groups working in the Mono Basin also packed up and went home. Though a few people were able to return later in the year…

The mars rover, a metal machine with six wheels sits on the beach of Mono Lake near outcroppings of tufa.

Mono Lake and NASA Perseverance rover’s Mars mission

For decades NASA has been involved with research at Mono Lake, and today we watch with extra excitement and pride as the Perseverance rover lands with new scientific instruments partially developed and tested right here at our home planet’s “Martian”…

One man walks with a tripod across his back through a golden field of grass towards snow covered rocks on the shore of Mono Lake.

Mono Lake Christmas Bird Count results

The Mono Lake Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is a one-day citizen science effort to tally all the wild birds in the Mono Lake area. The forty-second annual Mono Lake CBC was held on December 22, 2020. Due to COVID-19, the…