Special Events

Join us Friday afternoon at the Lee Vining Community Center as we begin our second annual Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua! Representatives from all the partners—Mono Lake Committee, US Forest Service, California State Parks, Eastern Sierra Audubon, and Point Reyes Bird Observatory will all be there and will briefly update us with important information related to the birds of Mono Lake. Hope to see you all there! 

Friday  4:00–5:30 pm      No pre-Registration Required FOR THIS EVENT
Will be held at the Lee Vining Community Center. 

You've hit town, checked in, and just attended the Second Annual Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua Welcome Reception. Now come join us at Gus Hess Park (across the street from the Lee Vining Community Center) as we enjoy the food of one of Lee Vining's finest chefs, Linda Dore. As Linda delights us with her delectable delicacies, we will mingle--welcoming last year's participants and meeting newcomers. It's the perfect way to continue the Chautauqua spirit on into the evening!

Menu
Baguettes with Butter
Mixed Greens Salad with Citrus
Green Beans with Olive Oil and Lemon Zest
Chicken Breast in Plum/Ginger/Hoisin Sauce
Polenta Torta with Tomato, Basil, Garlic, Edamame and Fontina Cheese
Brownies, Lemon Bars and Cookies
Lemonade, Iced Tea and Coffee Service

Chef: Linda Dore began her cooking career at Roget's Restaurant (now Nevados), and has worked in several other Mammoth restaurants including Nevados, The Matterhorn, and Anything Goes Cafe. She delighted Eastern Sierra visitors and locals alike with her talents as the chef at the Mono Inn at Mono Lake for four years. When not catering on her own, Linda now works for Anything Goes Catering. She studied for eight years under a graduate of the Culinary Academy in San Francisco. She says, "I like to think that my diploma comes from 'Catastrophy Cooking 101A--Out of the frying pan and into the fire...' that great school of experience!"

Friday 5:30-7:00 PM
Cost: $17.00 per person
Pre-registration is highly encouraged as this event may sell out.
It will be held at Gus Hess Park--across the street from the Lee Vining Community Center.

"I turned around just in time to glimpse a large gray bird with a long tail disappear into the deep forest." The forested slopes above Mono Basin and in neighboring Yosemite are inhabited by a fascinating web of earth's creatures, from lichen and fungi, to pine nuts, squirrels, woodpeckers, grouse, bark beetles and bears, and include avian predators such as sharp-shinned hawks and the northern goshawk. Explore this fascinating ecosystem through the eyes of the elusive winged predator, the northern goshawk. This slide presentation and discussion will look into the secrets of the subtle yet complex relations of the forest, which provide our timber, relief from the hot sun, and help regulate snow and water runoff into the lake downstream.

Presenter: Jeff Maurer  is a bird ecologist at the University of California, Davis, where he earned an M. S. in Avian Sciences in 2000, and currently lectures and researches lead poisoning in California condors. Jeff conducted a study of goshawk ecology in Yosemite National Park from 1994 to 1998, in which he investigated the role of forest structure, diet, and forest fires on goshawk nesting and productivity. He has also researched great gray owls and peregrine falcons in Yosemite, and conducted counts of migratory hawks at various locations in North America with Hawkwatch International. Jeff has lived at Crowley Lake and worked for the Inyo NF. Jeff teaches also with the Sierra Institute and the Yosemite Association, and enjoys watching shorebirds in California's Central Valley at the magical spring puddles of water, Mono Lake's smaller cousins, known as vernal pools.

Saturday 2:00-3:00  PM   Maximum number: 75  FULL
Meet in the Forest Service Scenic Area Visitor Center.

The Sierra is one of the most dynamic geographical barriers to bird populations in North America. The resulting isolation has led to distinctive "sub-species" and populations among many widespread species. The Sierra is a fascinating location to observe species diversity within a local area and challenge the very definition of a species! Join Jon Dunn on an exploration of Sierra bird diversity, covering species such as Western Scrub-jays, titmice, bushtits, fox sparrows, spotted towhees, and more!

Presenter: Jon Dunn was chief consultant to the National Geographic Society's Field Guide to the Birds of North America, the 4th edition, published in 2002. He has extensive knowledge of the identification and distribution of North American birds and has written articles on these subjects that have appeared in a wide variety of journals. He was co-author and the host of the two-video set Large and Small Gulls of North America in the Advanced Birding Video Series as well as co-author with Kimball Garrett of Birds of Southern California: Status and Distribution and Warblers. Jon is currently a member of the American Birding Association's Board of Directors as well as a consultant for their magazine, Birding. Jon also serves as Chair of the ABA Checklist Committee and is a member of both the California Bird Records Committee and the American Ornithologist's Union Checklist Committee.

Saturday 3:00-4:30 PM   Maximum number: 75
Meet in Scenic Area Visitor Center theater.

Join us Sunday afternoon for a picnic in the park complete with live music by Malcolm Dalglish! Malcolm Dalglish is a choral composer and director, hammer dulcimer, spoons, bones, and chin music virtuoso who presents programs of original folk choir and dulcimer music, stories, mime, rhyme, rhythm, and song.

Joining Malcolm will be singer, composer, and teacher Moira Smiley. Moira has worked with leading performers of traditional, early and contemporary music, written sound scores for films and dance-theater and sung Balkan women's music. Her joyous abandon and vocal versatility has been enjoyed by audiences around the world.

Feel free to bring your own lunch or consider purchasing lunch from one of our local community groups and help support their organization What a great way to end the Chautauqua! Come enjoy good food, live music, and conversation with new and old friends as we recap the weekend’s bird sightings or steal away down the boardwalk for a last-minute glimpse at the birds before ending our birding weekend.

Sunday  Starting at 12:00 NOON

Held at Mono Lake County Park. From Lee Vining, head north on Hwy 395 approximately 5 miles and turn right on Cemetery Road. Go down the hill and look for parking directions.

Evening Presentations

Join Margaret Rubega for an evening of wonder discussing one of Mono Lake’s most graceful bird species. Phalaropes are unusual among shorebirds in being highly adapted to life on, rather than next to, the water. Their need to feed on tiny aquatic prey makes their migratory dependence on environments like Mono Lake different from that of other migratory shorebirds. Despite their small size, they are conspicuous because of their numbers, and their unusual behaviors, such as spinning around in circles while feeding. Margaret will address the interaction of form and function in phalaropes and their fascinating array of behavioral and physical characteristics which have evolved in response to the demands of living and feeding in this unique saline environment.

Presenter: Margaret Rubega is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut where she specializes in avian functional and evolutionary morphology and conservation biology.  She is also the State Ornithologist of Connecticut. Her doctoral work included a study of phalaropes, at Mono Lake in the 1990's.

Friday  8:15–9:30 pm   Maximum number: 75  FULL
Meet in Scenic Area Visitor Center theater.

For the past few years we have been building a research collective that connects researchers studying Tachycineta swallows throughout the Americas. As this network of collaborating biologists expands and deepens, we are beginning to learn a great deal about the life histories of these confiding birds as they deal with habitats ranging from arctic to tropical, from coastal to montane.  The Golondrinas project builds upon techniques and questions elaborated in the past fifteen years of Tree Swallow research in Ithaca, New York, and it is well suited for focused hypothesis-testing research, for long-term monitoring of responses to global change, and for detailed educational opportunities with students of all ages and training. Come to this talk to see how studies of Tree and Violet-green swallows in Lee Vining Canyon fit into this Golondrinas network that spans the entire hemisphere!

Presenter: David W. Winkler, Ph.D. is a professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and faculty curator of birds at Cornell University. A California native, he received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley with the majority of his work centered on studying breeding California gulls at Mono Lake. He publishes regularly in journals ranging from Ecology and Evolution to The Auk, The Condor and Living Bird. His current research focuses on the life histories of Tachycineta swallows from Alaska to Argentina through a research collective he has created called Golondrinas de Las Americas (see http://golondrinas.cornell.edu). Dr. Winkler continues to maintain an active role in bird research at Mono Lake, both through coordinating student research on the gulls and an active Golondrinas site in Lee Vining Canyon.

Saturday 8:30-9:30  PM      Maximum number: 75
Meet in Scenic Area Visitor Center theater.

Dave Herbst will lead us on a virtual downstream tour from the headwaters of the Mono Basin watershed into the lake, illustrated through the biology of stream ecosystem transitions into saline Mono Lake. Invertebrates and their food resources form the backbone (despite their lack of one) of the ecological processes that support life in the waters of the Mono Basin. Dave will present some examples of these organisms, their roles and use as indicators of habitat health.

Presenter: Dave Herbst has been conducting studies of bugs and slime in the Eastern Sierra and Mono Basin since 1976, first as a member of the student revolutionaries of '76, then as a research scientist with the University of California. His research studies have most recently included restoration of aquatic habitat on the Owens Lake playa, the effect of introduced trout on stream ecosystems in the high Sierra of Yosemite, the food web of Devils Hole thermal spring in Death Valley, and monitoring of recovery from acid mine drainage in streams at the Leviathan Mine superfund site near Monitor Pass.

Friday 7:00-8:00 PM Maximum number: 75
Meet in Scenic Area Visitor Center theater.

Cornell University biologists Dr. Peter Wrege and student Justin Hite will discuss the biology and natural history of Mono Lake’s most conspicuous summer resident, the California Gull. Based on their recent intensive study of gull foraging ecology, Peter and Justin will describe the many tactics that gulls use to acquire food for their chicks and themselves. The presentation will also include vignettes of life as a gull researcher on the lake (from the absurd to the sublime).

Presenters: Peter H. Wrege, Ph.D. is a Senior Research Associate at Cornell University. Traveling widely, he has studied White-fronted Bee-eaters in Kenya, Wattled Jacanas in Panama, and Galapagos marine iguanas. His current research includes the Tree Swallow Dispersal Project in New York State and Golondrinas De Las Americas. Dr. Wrege spent two summers studying the feeding and breeding ecology of California Gulls at Mono Lake. Justin Hite is currently a student at Cornell University and has been involved with the California Gull research for the past four years. Life with Justin out on Mono Lake’s islands is an experience never to be forgotten!

Friday  7:00–8:00 pm   Maximum number: 75
Meet in the Lee Vining Community Center.

Point Reyes Bird Observatory biologist Sacha Heath will present slides, anecdotes, and results of the Eastern Sierra Riparian Songbird Conservation Project—a five- year project focusing on songbird use of Mono Basin’s recovering streams and other Eastern Sierra riparian bird haunts. Learn how songbird monitoring data can enhance restoration efforts and provide useful and timely information for bird conservation and management efforts.

Presenter: Sacha Heath has directed the Eastern Sierra Riparian Songbird Conservation Project since its inception in 1998 and has participated in several avian research projects ranging from Alaska to Antarctica. She has participated in statewide bird conservation efforts, co-authoring California bird conservation plans and species accounts for riparian, coniferous forest and oak woodland habitats.

Saturday  7:00–8:00 pm  Maximum number: 75
Meet in the Lee Vining Community Center.

Join Robert Jellison for a limnological review of the inner workings of Mono Lake. Learn what makes Mono Lake unique and highly productive and how it differs from other lakes, both saline and fresh. He'll review the current state of knowledge at Mono Lake and the outstanding research questions before concluding with a brief discussion of the fate of other saline lakes around the world.

Presenter: Robert Jellison began his research at Mono Lake in 1982 and decided to stay. He received his PhD in 1992 on nutrient cycling and primary productivity in Mono Lake during the onset, persistence, and breakdown of chemical stratification after which he continued working at the lake as a University of California research scientist. In addition to conducting state-mandated long-term monitoring of the plankton (algae and shrimp) in Mono Lake, Dr. Jellison is currently conducting NSF-sponsored research on microbial and viral dynamics in Mono Lake.

Saturday  7:00–8:00 pm  Maximum number: 75
Meet in the Scenic Area Visitor Center theater.

Imagine a map that covers the Eastern Sierra from Owens Lake to Bridgeport Reservoir and highlights all the best birding places. It will tell you how to get there, what birds you can expect to see, the best time of year to view birds in that location, and the facilities that are available at the site. The Mono Lake Committee, Eastern Sierra Audubon Society, and Owens Valley Committee are currently finalizing the production of such a map. And Mike Prather will tell you all about it!

Presenter: Mike Prather is a past president of the Eastern Sierra Audubon Society and is the current president of the Owens Valley Committee. He actively works on Owens Valley and Owens Lake water and wildlife issues and has been a resident of Inyo County (Lone Pine) for 30 years. He’s also a long time Monophile.

Intermission between Saturday evening programs. 
No pre-registration required.
Meet in Scenic Area Visitor Center theater

Come let your imagination soar as we gather around a campfire for legends from many lands.  In the old days, birds could talk.  Hear their voices come alive again as master storyteller, Ane Carla Rovetta shares her unique humor.  This will be a delightful evening for all ages.  Note: Bring a beach chair or blanket, flashlight, and be sure to dress warmly.

Presenter: Ane Carla Rovetta’s formal training was as a scientist. Like the painters during the Renaissance, she believes that science and art are kindred disciplines and has spent most of her adult life unifying the two in lively public performances throughout the West. Ane Carla’s “grounding” in natural history has led her to include the earth around her in her artwork. She makes her own art supplies from a variety of raw materials.  A pen and ink illustrator for over twenty years, Ane Carla has illustrated five books and maintains a studio in downtown Point Reyes Station, California.  She lives in Sonoma County where her pastel chalks are rolled in a “funky little outbuilding that used to be a chicken coop.”

Saturday  8:00-9:30 PM    Maximum number: 45

Meet at South Tufa Parking Lot. From Lee Vining drive 5 miles south to Highway 120 East and continue for another 5 miles turning left and following the signs to the South Tufa Parking Area. Allow 20 minutes drive time from Lee Vining.

Last Updated April 16, 2006 Copyright © 2002-2006, Mono Lake Committee. (how to contact us)