This summer, I visited the Mono Lake area. My last visit to this jewel of the Sierra Nevada Mountains was many years ago – I won’t wait that long again.
One of the highlights of our trip was a visit to Mono County Park. At the end of a boardwalk to the shore of the lake, we were treated to the sight of thousands of Wilson’s Phalaropes just off shore. Every few minutes, as a raft of these tiny birds floated towards the shore on the gently rocking surface of the lake, a huge flock would take wing, zoom around in crazy formations for a few minutes, and then settle back to the surface of the lake to start the cycle over again.
Mono Lake is a critical stop for Wilson's Phalaropes on their fall journey to South America – 80,000-125,000 of these lovely little birds spend several weeks in July and August at Mono Lake fattening up for their upcoming non-stop journey to Ecuador. Pretty damn cool I’d say.
And to think that we almost lost it all...
