Hundreds of water birds eating midges on surface of Tule Lake, Tule Lake NWR, 27 Apr.2025

[Kathy Larson]

Ron Larson writes:  “While driving the Auto Tour Route at the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge (Sunday, 27 Apr. 2025), we saw an estimated 500 water birds concentrated near the north end of the “English Channel” connecting Sump 1A and 1B.  The flocks were a mixture of Eared Grebes, Franklin’s Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls, Gadwalls, Northern Shovelers, Ruddy Ducks, American Coots, & others – all pecking at tiny objects on the water’s surface.  Photographs showed that these birds were likely capturing the relatively large, brown, Klamath midges (Chironomous sp.) – in the process of emerging from their pupal cases (after the pupae swam to the surface), with the adult midges perched above the case or atop the water to dry their wings before flying off.”