Mono Lake

Mono Lake, a million year old inland sea, lies within a closed basin ringed by the mountains of the Sierra Nevada and the Great Basin. Mono Lake’s naturally saline waters provide abundant food for a multitude of resident and migratory birds. The Mono Lake basin hosts many unique geological features such as limestone tufa towers that rise out of a shrinking lake, volcanic islands, glaciated canyons and the youngest volcanic chain in North America.

Mono Lake provides abundant food for resident and migratory birds. Microscopic algae in the lake nurture trillions of brine shrimp and alkali flies, which in turn provide nearly unlimited food supplies for waterbirds. No fish can live in Mono Lake’s salty, alkaline waters.

Mono Lake supports up to 1 million waterbirds (shorebirds, grebes, gulls, ducks and geese) at peak migration during the fall. Thirty-five shorebird species utilize the lake. The most abundant migrants are Wilson’s Phalaropes (up to 80,000, or 10-14% of the world population) and Red-necked Phalaropes (up to 50,000, or 2-3% of the world population). Shorebirds found during the summer and throughout the fall migration include American Avocets, Western Sandpipers, Spotted Sandpipers, Black-necked Stilts, and the threatened Snowy Plover (11% of the California population nests at Mono Lake). Other abundant waterbirds include Eared Grebes (up to 750,000, or 30% of the world population) and California Gulls. About 85% of the state’s California Gull population, the second largest colony in the world, nests on Mono Lake islands.