Audubon California joined folks from Eastern Sierra Audubon and lots of enthusiastic volunteers for the Owens Lake Big Day earlier this week. We were counting shorebirds at the lake, compiling invaluable data which will help us secure lasting protections for this Important Bird Area. Audubon California and Eastern Sierra Audubon are working with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and other agencies to identify key habitats and species on the lake bed, and secure lasting protections. Pictured above, from left, Mike Prather, Eastern Sierra Audubon Big Day organizer; Andrea Jones, Audubon California Important Bird Area director; and Pete Pumphrey, Eastern Sierra Audubon president.

In the spring, tens of thousands of shorebirds, waterfowl, and other migratory species now stop-over to feed on the millions of brine flies and other invertebrates that collect on the lakebed’s surface. Traveling from as far as South America to the far north of North America, the migration of these birds are one of nature’s awesome spectacles. As many as 22 different species of shorebirds have been recorded in a single day and 15 bird Species of Special Concern use the habitats on and around the lakebed.

Snowy Plovers (listed in California as a Bird Species of Special Concern), have expanded their territories out from the lake margins, finding ideal habitat and food on shallow-flooded habitat. As a result, numbers of breeding plovers have nearly tripled in the past decade. Over a thousand American Avocets now nest on the lakebed, along with smaller numbers of Black-necked Stilts. Migrating waterfowl stop at the lake, and some species such as Gadwall and Mallard, have returned as breeders. Single-day lake-wide counts often tally 40,000-60,000 birds.

We'll have the results of the recent count soon.