Natural History Wanderings

Owens Lake Spring Big Day – Wednesday, April 22, 2015

The 2015 Owens Lake Spring Big Day will be Wednesday, April 22, just before the first annual Owens Lake Birding Festival. We are looking for birders with at least some experience to help out in this intense bird census of Owens Lake. Contact Mike Prather to sign up. Small groups of citizen scientists will join with LADWP staff to spread across the lake and count EVERY BIRD WE FIND. Last April we had 115,000 birds! Owens Lake is an Audubon Important Bird Area (IBA) with tremendous importance. It hosts tens of thousands of shorebirds and waterfowl and is the largest nesting location for Snowy Plovers in California. Our data collected on Big Days is used by LADWP, State Lands, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District, and Audubon in the management and planning at Owens Lake.

To join in, or for more information, please contact Mike Prather at 760-876-5807 or mprather@lonepinetv.com. We will meet at 7AM at the Diaz Lake parking lot three miles south of Lone Pine on Highway 395. Come prepared – food, water, sunscreen, hat.

Owens Lake Bird Festival – Save the Date! April 25, 2015

Friends of the Inyo is planning the 1st annual Owens Lake Bird Festival for April 25, 2015. Audubon will be involved in helping with this event at the lake, which is an Audubon Important Bird Area (IBA). If you are interested in volunteering in any capacity, please contact event coordinator Ursula Esser at Friends of the Inyo (see contact information below), or for volunteering to lead a field trip, contact Michael Prather (760-876-5807), and/or Barbara Kelley who will also be coordinating with Friends of the Inyo on the event. Or email all three to help with coordination of volunteers. Below is the information from Friends of the Inyo (from their website) on this exciting event:

Please join us for our 1st Annual Owens Lake Bird Festival on April 25th, 2015, and an Opening Reception on Friday, April 24th at the Lone Pine Film History Museum.

The Festival promises to offer a variety of field trips and showcase the unique habitat and significance of Owens Lake at the height of spring migration.

Designated as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by the National Audubon Society, Owens Lake offers world-class wildlife viewing in the southern Owens Valley.

Concomitant with Festival, we are sponsoring a photography exhibit by Robin Black at the Interagency Visitor Center. The exhibit entitled “Second Chance: The Owens Lake Project” will run from March 1- April 30, 2015, with an exhibit reception and closing event for our Festival day on Saturday, April 25th.

Our Festival partners include Eastern Sierra Audubon, California Audubon, Eastern California Museum, Eastern Sierra Interpretive Association, Interagency Visitor Center, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Lone Pine Chamber of Commerce.

Save the Date and reserve your Lone Pine Motel room now for the weekend of April 24-26th, 2015!

For more information, please email Ursula (info@friendsoftheinyo.org) or call 760-873-6500.

Registration: Online registration and field trip sign-ups is available now on the event webpage.