Mono County Big Day: 151 species!

[Justin Hite]

We've been talking about doing a Big Day in Mono County all summer.  We hadn't done any real scouting, so yesterday was supposed to just be a trial run and we were hoping to maybe get close to the previous Mono County record of 135.

We birded from 3am to 11pm.  We (the we being Nora Livingston, Oliver James, Chris McCreedy and myself) started at Fish Slough, then trekked through Chalfant, Benton, the Benton Range, Black Lake, Wild Rose Canyon, Crowley, the road to Minaret Summit, the Mammoth Lakes Scenic Loop, the June Lake burn, Lee Vining Canyon, the Warbler Thicket, Virginia Lakes, Bridgeport Reservoir, Twin Lakes, Warford Spring, DeChambeau Ponds and County Park.    

It's hard to sit here and try and think of highlights because there were just so many.  Our first bird was a Short-eared Owl and our last was a Long-eared.  Blue Grosbeaks and Le Conte's Thrashers were keeping things spicy in Fish Slough.  A male Ring-necked Pheasant was trying to hide in short grass at the White Mountain Ranch. Golden Eagle standing like a lazy tyrant on a pile of boulders in the Tablelands. Gorgeous female Red-necked Phalarope slumming with Least Sandpipers at Black Lake.  Red-naped Sapsucker paired with Red-breasted at Wild Rose, where we also got beautiful looks at a Virginia's Warbler, the cocky crest of a Juniper Titmouse and the gorget of a Calliope.  Sage Grouse hanging out with a Willet on the shore of Crowley, where we also had a scruffy looking Common Loon and a distant flying Black Tern.  A spectacular moment in the forest a little below Minaret Summit with a tame Pine Grosbeak and both species of Kinglets singing like the world was about to end. Red Crossbill pair drinking from a creek on the scenic loop...Chris wondered if they drink sideways.  We tied the old record with Lazuli Bunging and broke it with Indigo Bunting at the Warbler Thicket.  Flyover Rosy Finch at Virginia Lake, which is also where halfway through wondering aloud if there were Bighorn Sheep on the talus slopes I interrupted myself to shout "Bighorn on the talus!"  Three Sandhill Cranes, a pair and a single, wandering around the south shore of Bridgeport. Our final daytime bird was Common Mergansers at Twin Lakes that waited in hiding until we were deciding to leave, then popped out to wish us good riddance.  And we were a bit worried when a Sheriff with lights flashing pulled up behind us outside the Conway Ranch Fish Hatchery gate wondering what kind of misdeeds we were committing, and after laughing at our explanation suggested a better spot for owls at Warford Spring.  So we went out there and were greeted by the adorable peeping of a Long-eared Owl fledgling the moment we stepped out of the car.

Below is the complete list.  We all saw new county birds and there were even a few life birds in there.  I added a note to birds if they were a life or county bird (CB) for any of the crew.  

Common Loon 

Eared Grebe 

Pied-billed Grebe

Western Grebe 

Clark’s Grebe (CB Chris)

American White Pelican 

Double-crested Cormorant 

Great Blue Heron 

Great Egret 

Black-crowned Night-Heron 

White-faced Ibis 

Canada Goose 

Mallard 

Gadwall 

Northern Pintail 

American Wigeon 

Northern Shoveler 

Cinnamon Teal 

Green-winged Teal 

Redhead (CB Nora)

Ring-necked Duck

Common Merganser 

Ruddy Duck 

Turkey Vulture 

Northern Harrier 

Red-tailed Hawk 

Swainson's Hawk

Golden Eagle (CB Nora)

Osprey 

American Kestrel 

Prairie Falcon 

Greater Sage-grouse

California Quail 

Ring-necked Pheasant (CB Nora, Justin, Chris, Oliver)

American Coot 

Virginia Rail (CB Nora)

Sandhill Crane (CB Chris)

Killdeer 

American Avocet 

Greater Yellowlegs 

Spotted Sandpiper 

Willet

Long-billed Curlew 

Least Sandpiper 

Wilson’s Snipe 

Wilson’s Phalarope 

Red-necked Phalarope 

Ring-billed Gull 

California Gull 

Caspian Tern 

Black Tern 

Mourning Dove 

Eurasian Collared-Dove 

Rock Pigeon

Long-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl (CB Nora)

Great Horned Owl 

Common Nighthawk

Common Poorwill

Costa’s Hummingbird

Calliope Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird

Lewis's Woodpecker

Red-naped Sapsucker

Red-breasted Sapsucker 

Williamson's Sapsucker

Hairy Woodpecker 

Black-backed Woodpecker

Northern Flicker 

Western Wood-Pewee 

Dusky Flycatcher 

Gray Flycatcher 

Say’s Phoebe 

Ash-throated Flycatcher 

Western Kingbird

Loggerhead Shrike 

Plumbeous Vireo

Warbling Vireo

Steller’s Jay 

Western Scrub Jay 

Pinyon Jay

Clark’s Nutcracker 

Black-billed Magpie 

American Crow (CB Nora)

Common Raven 

Horned Lark 

Violet-green Swallow 

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Bank Swallow

Tree Swallow 

Cliff Swallow 

Barn Swallow 

Juniper Titmouse 

Mountain Chickadee 

Red-breasted Nuthatch 

White-breasted Nuthatch 

Brown Creeper 

Bewick’s Wren 

House Wren 

Marsh Wren 

Rock Wren 

American Dipper 

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-crowned Kinglet 

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 

Townsend’s Solitaire 

Mountain Bluebird 

American Robin 

Hermit Thrush 

Northern Mockingbird (CB Nora)

LeConte's Thrasher (life Nora, CB Justin, Oliver)

Sage Thrasher 

European Starling 

Orange-crowned Warbler 

Virginia's Warbler

Yellow Warbler 

Yellow-rumped Warbler 

MacGillivray’s Warbler 

Common Yellowthroat 

Western Tanager 

Lazuli Bunting  

Indigo Bunting

Blue Grosbeak (CB Nora, Chris, Oliver)

Black-headed Grosbeak 

Spotted Towhee 

Green-tailed Towhee 

Black-throated Sparrow (CB Nora)

Brewer’s Sparrow 

Vesper Sparrow

Sage Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow 

Fox Sparrow

Song Sparrow 

Dark-eyed Junco 

White-crowned Sparrow 

Bullock’s Oriole 

Western Meadowlark 

Red-winged Blackbird 

Yellow-headed Blackbird 

Brewer’s Blackbird 

Great-tailed Grackle 

Brown-headed Cowbird 

Red Crossbill

Pine Grosbeak (life Chris, CB Nora)

Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch

House Finch 

Cassin’s Finch 

Lesser Goldfinch 

Pine Siskin 

House Sparrow