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.

The Mono Basin’s top 10 July birds

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.

This post was written by Sandra Noll, Birding Intern in 2014, 2015, & 2016.

We keep a running list of bird sightings on the “bird board” in the Mono Lake Committee Information Center & Bookstore, clearing it each month to make room for more sightings.

Adult and fledgling Loggerhead Shrike perched together. Adult birds continue to provide supplemental food for a week or more after their chicks fledge while the young learn to forage for themselves. Photo by Erv Nichols.

Here’s a list of July’s notable bird sightings:

County Park
Wilson’s Phalarope in large flocks (more often at north end of lake)
bonus: Peregrine Falcon harassing the flocks of phalaropes
White-faced Ibis
Lewis’ Woodpecker fledglings
American Kestrel fledglings
Osprey fledglings

American Kestrel chicks perch at the entrance to their nest cavity before fledging (taking their first flight). Photo by Sandra Noll.

South Tufa
Say’s Phoebe
fledgling Osprey
White Pelican

Thousands of Wilson’s Phalaropes take wing over Mono Lake off the County Park boardwalk. Photo by Sandra Noll.

Navy Beach
Loggerhead Shrike
Sage Thrasher

The usually reclusive Sage Thrasher ventures out of sagebrush cover to to hunt insects near the lake … this insect will make a good meal! Photo by Sandra Noll.

Mono Craters
Evening Grosbeak
Red Crossbill

Fall migrants are beginning to show up…. Check them out on a bird walk at Mono Lake County Park every Friday and Sunday at 8:00am through August!

2 Comments

  1. Thanks for this post, Sandra! Since I’m a new MLC member this is the first monthly bird posting I’ve seen on Mōnō-logue. Do you post the “bird board” each month on The Mōnō-logue? Is there a “calendar” of bird activities somewhere on monolake.org; such as when Spring and Fall migrations start and end?