Day One was spent south of Mono, starting at Crowley Lake. The morning chill gradually faded as we studied the reservoir with our scopes. Most of the thousands of birds were at some distance. One highlight was watching 2 subadult Sabine's Gulls. Before leaving we walked over to the Leyton Springs area, on the nearby eastern slope above Crowley. There we watched 2 Green-tailed Towhees as they bathed and foraged in the shade near the spring inlet. Distance and deep shade challenged the photographers.
Day Two highlights were along route 120 on the south side of Mono Lake. At South Tufa we were too late for the Wilson's Phalaropes, but still enjoyed a decent variety of the usual species. As we exited the cars we enjoyed watching a Sage Thrasher on the roof of the restroom building.
Along the shore we watched a few Least Sandpipers feasting on the brine flies.
Heading east on 120 we stopped at the Mono Mills kiosk, where we were greeted by the resident White-breasted Nuthatches. Viewing from the kiosk we watched an animated flock of 30-40 Pinon Jays foraging at the base of some desert scrub plants and then flying back to nearby pines to cache or eat their harvest, which might have been insects. Distance and active movements were a challenge to capture. More fun just to watch the frenzy.
Nearby a White-headed Woodpecker was spotted by Beth, and we all watched in awe as this rare visitor plucked pine nuts and stashed them in bark crevices of an adjacent pine. Too close for me to get a good photo, so I took a short video and extracted a few frames Mottled red on crown may denote a juvenile:
Another corvid completed Mono Mill kiosk show, Clark's Nutcracker:
Day 3 to follow.
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