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Naturalist Notes
A Mono Basin Chronicle
Early August: tadpoles in Gardisky lake
… bighorn sheep scat near Tioga Peak …
the local Lee Vining red-tailed hawk circling over
town … northern harrier cruising the lake shore
… two juvenile bald eagles at Saddlebag Lake
… mountain bike attacked by Artemesia
tridentata (sagebrush) … five Virginia rails
at County Park, joined by two soras, a black phoebe
swooping and catching alkali flies, grebes,
phalaropes, snipe, yellow warblers, a downy
woodpecker, and a coyote exploring the picnic tables
and swingset … great-horned owls at South Tufa
… tentative report of mule deer on Paoha …
50 mallards along the north shore … beaver
sighting in the Lundy beaver ponds …an ancient
murrelet near Navy Beach.
Late August: subtle signs of approaching
autumn … nighthawks chasing insects over Lee
Vining Creek … silvery hillsides of fruiting
mountain mahogany … six cinnamon teals, two
horned grebes, and two spotted sandpipers … a
bobcat bounding across Lee Vining Creek … 250
northern shovelers east of Navy Beach … Caspian
terns on the south shore … down by Yost Lake, a
white-breasted nuthatch, Clark’s nutcrackers,
abundant chickadees and juncos … rabbitbrush
blooming everywhere … aspens showing color
… 50 pintails, 27 least and western sandpipers,
two yellow-headed blackbirds, a northern flicker,
among others at DeChambeau Ponds … four great
blue herons on the south shore.
Early September: a pied-billed grebe …
soras still at County Park … many eared grebes
…four black-necked stilts along the south shore,
killdeer, northern shovelers, and the osprey …
up near Lee Vining peak, immature golden eagle,
sharp-shinned hawk, two kestrels, four red-tailed
hawks, a golden-crowned sparrow, two rosy finches,
Clark’s nutcrackers, and lots of chickadees and
juncos … several hundred red-necked phalaropes
at South Tufa, joined by 17 black-necked stilts and a
great egret … 31 Caspian terns squawking
overhead … nine American avocets at South Tufa,
ring-billed gulls, a Sabine’s gull, and two
whimbrels.
Late September: a Townsend’s solitaire
and a MacGillivray’s warbler in Lundy Canyon
… more Sabine’s gulls … sage sparrows
and spotted towhees … more amber and orange on
the trees … two northern harriers, a
green-tailed towhee, and a gray flycatcher near the
lake … the orange leaves on Sagehen Summit
visible from Lee Vining …600 ducks along the
south shore, mostly northern shovelers and northern
pintails … white-crowned sparrow, western
kingbird, and sheep at Cain Ranch.
October: one sora still at County Park,
red-breasted sapsucker in the willows … Parker
Bench aspens in full form … aspens waning above
8500 feet … no wintry weather yet, waiting for
El Niño … ruddy ducks and Forster’s terns
… a strong wind, and the colors are gone from
the Parker Bench … canyon wren among the piñons
and boulders above Mono … owl swooping through
town at moonrise.
Early November: American coots out on the
lake among numerous eared grebes … snow goose at
South Tufa, green-winged teals and horned larks
… a flock of pinyon jays in the Jeffrey pine
forest … more high pressure, still no snow
… lingering fall color, goldenrod gone to seed
… 31 snow geese flying in formation over County
Park … unknown bird of prey hunting successfully
among ducks and grebes off the south shore …
Cooper’s hawk over the highway … mule deer
on the move … bald eagle soaring over Silver
Lake … golden eagle rescued from the highway.
Late November: photo documentation of a
red-headed yellow-headed blackbird … vicious
winds clocked at 113 mph on the edge of town …
dense poconip … flock (20? 30?) of spotted
towhees north of Highway 167.
Early December: Snow arrives, four inches
here, six inches there … Black Point gone white
… the storm door is open.
Return to Winter
1998 Newsletter
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