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White Mountains, Mammoth Lakes, Mono Lake, Bodie and Yosemite

I’ve been dying to get out and actually photograph something and fortunately this past weekend took us to Mammoth Lakes for their annual Jazz Jubilee. And…being in the Sierras meant I had to take advantage of some of the great birding areas!

On the way up, we took a quick detour to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains. Got some dynamite photos of Mountain Bluebird. I wasn’t so fortunate with my Clark’s Nutcracker photos though and along the way we found a Violet-green Swallow nest. On the way out of the park I managed to spot a male and female American Kestrel perching next to each other.

Mountain Bluebird

Violet-green Swallow

Clark’s Nutcracker

American Kestrel

Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest

The following morning I birded nearby Sherwin Creek of Mammoth Lakes, CA. Highlight of the day was definitely a Western Tanager family. I first found the female that was clearly not happy with my presence and continually made an alarm call as I photographed her. The male flew in from time to time and after I photographed them for 10-15 minutes I finally found the young Western Tanager that had just fledged. You can still see some down feathers and the tail feather had not grown in yet.

Western Tanager (m)

Western Tanager (f)

Western Tanager (i)

Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel

The rest of Saturday was speant enjoying the jazz and piano music at the Mammoth Jazz Jubilee. We woke up early Sunday morning and headed to South Mono Lake where I photographed Violet-green Swallows and California Gulls. I had hoped for Wilson’s Phalarope but no such luck this time.

Violet-green Swallow

California Gull

California Ground Squirrel

Mono Lake Tufas

After our quick little jaunt out to Mono Lake we sprinted up to the Bodie Ghost Town north of Lee Vining to look for Sage Grouse and ended up being quite fortunate to find a group of 7.

Greater Sage-grouse

Bodie Ghost Town

After Bodie we headed into Yosemite Natl Park via Tioga Pass in hopes of Great Gray Owl and Black-backed Woodpecker. Although we didn’t find either I did manage to get better shots of Lincoln’s Sparrow.