Observers: Justin Hite
Email: justinhiteatgmaildotcom
Verification: MONO
Remote Name: 65.241.2.253
Date: 07/13/2008
Time: 05:00 PM -0400
I just spent three days stumbling around in the heat and beauty of the southeast and east shore of Mono Lake. The strangest bird I saw was a Band-tailed Pigeon that flew in from the southeast, circled overhead once, and then flew back the way it came. Also a Blue-winged Teal drake, a Baird's Sandpiper, some other good shorebirds (both Yellowlegs, one LB Dowitcher, one Semipalmated Plover, some Marbled Godwits). 8 Ring-billed Gulls (usually i only ever see single RBGU's at Mono in the summer), one Bonaparte's, and three flight-capable juvenile Californias mixed up the gull scene. Notably absent were large numbers of Wilson's Phalaropes...I saw maybe 50. Also good numbers of Bank Swallows throughout all daylight hours, up to three at a time.