2011 Owens Lake Fall Big Day - Wednesday, August 24^th

Join us for a fun Fall Big Day at Owens Lake. The lake will be surveyed for all birds of all species during the peak of fall migration. Small groups will census every bird habitat at Owens Lake in order to have a ‘snap shot’ of a single day. Expect to see thousands of shorebirds so be prepared. Past counts have totaled 40,000-60,000 birds!

Meet at 7:00AM at the parking lot of Diaz Lake County Park 3 miles south of Lone Pine on Hwy 395.

To sign up contact survey coordinator Michael Prather at (760) 876-5807 mprather@lonepinetv.com.

2011 Owens Lake Spring Big Day Census: 58,589 total birds

The fourth annual Owens Lake Spring Big Day was held on April 19, 2011, under perfect spring-like weather conditions. This year’s event was organized by Mike Prather, Eastern Sierra Audubon Society, and Debbie House, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), Watershed Resources Specialist. The twenty seven participants included birders from San Diego to Berkeley, as well as locals from Lone Pine to Mammoth Lakes, and five LADWP staff biologists.

The entire 40 square miles of the Owens Lake Dust Control Project and several shoreline spring sites were surveyed. A total of 58,589 birds and 73 species were recorded. Highlights of the count include 18,978 Calidris sandpipers including Least Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper and Dunlin, 8,200 American Avocet, 153 Greater Yellowlegs, 95 Black bellied Plover, and 58 Willet. Of the over 4,900 waterfowl recorded, Gadwall and Ruddy Duck predominated, while three Blue-winged Teal and one Red breasted Merganser were among the “less frequently encountered” waterfowl species recorded for the day. It was a five gull day at Owens Lake, with California Gulls virtually everywhere (23,248 of them tallied), and five Franklin’s Gulls, a dozen Bonaparte’s Gulls, a few-dozen Ring-billed and a couple Herring Gulls thrown into the mix.

LADWP and the Eastern Sierra Audubon Society would like to thank all who participated. The information from lake-wide Big Day counts is being incorporated into LADWP’s growing database of wildlife use of the Owens Lake Dust Control Project, and will be used to help guide management decisions regarding maintaining or improving wildlife habitat, while implementing water conservation efforts and continuing to meet dust control requirements.

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