Natural History Wanderings

Mono Lake Commitee reported

For centuries California Gulls have migrated east across the Central Valley and Sierra Nevada to nest at Mono Lake. Their graceful, raucous, and quirky presence is a distinct and iconic part of the Mono Basin along with granite peaks, brine shrimp, tufa towers, and volcanic islands. For generations gulls have played an important role in the biodiversity of the Mono Basin and Eastern Sierra, and their health is a measure of the health and abundance of the Mono Lake ecosystem.

Now, three decades after the California State Water Resources Control Board ordered that Mono Lake must be allowed to rise to 6,392 feet above sea level—which it has not yet reached—California Gulls are not only struggling to recover, they’re also struggling to survive. A new report documents record nest failure last year, signaling serious trouble for the gull colony as chronically low lake levels and continuing stream diversions by the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (DWP) are damaging the lake’s ecological health.

Read more: Mono Lake may be losing its California Gulls