My Birding World

When people talk about visiting the Sierra Nevada Mountains, it usually conjures up images of camping in the summer or skiing in the winter. For me, the fall beckons. The temperatures are mild, some of the trees change color, and the crowds are minimal. My husband and I enjoy visiting Lake Tahoe in the early fall to pick up our remaining mountain birds for the year. This time, we did something a little different and traveled to Mono County on the east side of the Sierras.

To begin the trip, we planned to spend one night in Lake Tahoe. On the way to our destination, we did a quick detour to Wrights Lake near the Desolation Wilderness. At about 7,000 feet, we did a very light hike to avoid feeling sick from the altitude change, but our brief walk down the main trailhead was gorgeous. Signs of fall danced on the leaves turning red and yellow, and the air was crisp and cool. A small meadow near the lake offered a serene moment to take in the calm.

One of our target species for this spot was the American Goshawk. In a thrilling moment when we pulled up to pay the entrance fee, I heard an unfamiliar hawk call. I recorded it using the Merlin App, but it couldn’t identify the species. I was certain this was a goshawk – what else could it be since I knew the calls of all the other local hawks? A closer examination revealed that it was a Douglas Squirrel – a mammal that has a range of bird-like calls that is frustratingly confusing, although amusing. We never got our goshawk on the trip, so we will be back to visit the area again in the future.

After a night in Tahoe, we were off to the main part of the trip: birding in Mono County. The eastern side of the Sierras is disorienting to me. I’m accustomed to the mountains rising to the east, but riding along the highway with the towering mountains to the west made me feel like I was in another land. The drive along the mountainous highway was technically the high desert, offering different plant life to observe. We made a brief stop at a community park that had public restrooms and a gate that led to a gorgeous walk into the mountains. I was excited to hear a White-crowned Sparrow singing a slightly different tune than what I’m used to hearing.

We made a few extra stops along Highway 395, but the birding activity was low, likely due to the high winds that built up as the afternoon settled in. Little did we know that the rest of our trip would bear out the same pattern – winds and minimal birds.

Our main birding stop for the day was at Mono Lake. While birding conditions were not ideal, the scenery was lovely. Lurking in the background were thunder clouds, and we spotted some lightning bolts in the distance. We kept our wits about, monitoring the clouds to ensure we wouldn’t get caught in a storm near a large body of water – not a good spot to be at with lightning!

The next day, weary from a bad night of sleep from a loud thunderstorm, we headed out to the Crowley Lake area. The first stop was a lek, which is where grouse will dance around to woo the females. The leks are active in the spring, but I was hopeful that some Great Sage-Grouse would still be hanging around.

Getting to the lek was confusing. This was definitely an area where local knowledge would have been handy. We drove our passenger car along unpaved roads, faithfully following Google Maps to the eBird hotspot coordinates. We stopped at an unlocked gate that prevented cars from going down the road, so we walked down a path until a snake rattled in alarm, which sent me scampering back to the car. The only birds we saw were meadowlarks and ravens for our effort. I need to research this place more and come back in the spring.

We visited a couple other birding hotspots that day. At Crowley Lake, we picked up a Sagebrush Sparrow, although we only heard its loud TINK note. It was otherwise content to stay hidden in the bushes. The lake offered a good pit stop and water fowl to pick through.

The other birding spot was at Convict Lake, one of the most scenic areas of the entire trip. Although not very birdy, and oddly crowded for a weekday, the lake nestled in the mountains was gorgeous.

On our final day, we made one last push to find birds that are found at high elevations: Gray-crowned Rosy Finch and Black-backed Woodpeckers. The finches were recently seen at Inyo Craters, which is 9,000 feet above sea level. The elevation made us a little light-headed, so we lightly strolled around the parking lot looking for signs of bird life. We heard a few Mountain Chickadees, but it was otherwise quiet. We slowly drove back along the unpaved path, carefully driving along the edges of wide puddles that would have been easier to navigate in an SUV. One spot along the road was hopeful with lots of birds running around the low bushes. I had read that Gray-crowned Rosy Finches tend to forage on the ground, so we patiently picked through the sparrows that ran in and out of sight, darting around the bushes for food. A Clark’s Nutcracker landed nearby and gave its rattling call, providing me with a great recording to upload to my eBird list. There was lots of bird chatter, but nothing unfamiliar, and soon enough the flock of birds had moved on.

A final birding visit was at a recent burn area where a Black-backed Woodpecker was recently reported. It felt odd staring into a field of burned trees looking for a bird, but these woodpeckers are experts at finding grub that lives off the burned wood. But once again, the trip yielded no sightings of our target bird.

I realized that while fall is a beautiful and calm time of the year to travel in the Sierras, the birds are trying to be low-key as they settle into winter mode. Unlike the spring, birds are relatively quiet in the fall in order to conserve energy and focus on foraging for food without attracting predators.

In spite of this, we picked up eight more species for our 2025 bird list, including a Sagebrush Sparrow lifer – the first time we’ve ever observed this bird. Throughout our trip, we saw beautiful landscapes and witnessed the different personalities of the mountains. Some were bare and rocky, some sprouted dense trees, and others melted into the high desert ecosystem. We ended the trip with fond memories of a magical tour through part of the Sierras. I would like to do this trip again, perhaps in the spring once the snow has melted, to enjoy the breeding season and refreshed birding activity.

I stepped out of the front door and was greeted with a blast of chilly air. Cars and sidewalks sparkled from the overnight frost that would remain crystalized for most of the morning. I glanced at the trash pickings left by three bears and a coyote from the night before. For the first time in many never-ending-heated months, I was happy to bundle up against the unfamiliar cold. Despite three layers of socks, my toes still went numb in my athletic shoes designed to allow air flow. Time to invest in a different type of shoes.

Our first stop was at Fallen Leaf Lake – a required stop for all of our Tahoe trips. Today it was unusually quiet with the campgrounds long closed for the season. We hiked for over an hour without running into another person. The lake was crystal clear and blue, with the mountains towering mystically in the distance. The stillness was soothing and such a relief from the bustling city we call home.

We came to an Aspen grove, devoid of most of the bright yellow leaves. I noticed a pinecone in one of the trees – “oddly placed,” I thought. Curiously, I zoomed into the pinecone with my frozen binoculars, only it wasn’t a pinecone. “Owl!” I shouted, maybe too loudly, to my husband. A little Northern Pygmy-Owl sat there watching us with yellow, piercing eyes. Sometimes it flashed its feathered false eyes on the back of its head when it was comfortable with directing its attention elsewhere for a brief moment. Double exciting was submitting an eBird report for this “unreported” species for Fallen Leaf Lake. After watching the tiny bundle of owl for a while, we quietly snuck away to give it some peace.

After the first park visit, we grabbed sandwiches and headed over to a newly-discovered birding location called Lake Baron, which is nestled in Tahoe Paradise Park. I was awed by this community park. It had picnic benches and sported a play area like I’m familiar with at home, but manicured grass and crawling sidewalks were replaced by towering mountain trees and bustling with bird activity. A group of Hooded Mergansers and Common Mergansers swam with American Wigeons in the lake. A Townsend’s Solitaire was calling off in the distance. Mountain Chickadees and Dark-eyed Juncos were busy foraging in the trees and bushes. Perhaps the oddest sight for me was spotting a Bald Eagle sitting in a pine tree. I’m accustomed to these majestic creatures dwarfing their surroundings in the Bay Area, but this one seemed small and out of place to my inexperienced mountain eyes. It’s about the closest I’ve ever been to a wild Bald Eagle.

I was sad to leave Tahoe so soon, but a storm was threatening to dump several feet of snow and close the nearby roads. We’ll be back to explore new parks and bask in the serene and peaceful mountain experience in the New Year.

I haven’t written a post in a few weeks, partly because the Bay Area is warming up and I don’t do very well in the heat. The birds don’t particularly like the heat either. Birders mourn the summer blues where birding gets a little dull between migration and breeding seasons. It’s also straight up uncomfortable if you’re outdoors in the hottest part of the day.

This weekend I escaped to Tahoe on a whim to help cope with the heat and enjoy the 30-degree temperature difference. I love Tahoe and the mountains. The trees are different, the air is fresh, and new birds pop out here and there. I’m still trying to find the birding hotspots around the Tahoe area, but my go-to place is always Fallen Leaf Lake.

This lake is much smaller than Lake Tahoe, but it’s less crowded and more peaceful. Lodgepole Chipmunks are frantically running around and Mountain Chickadees are delightfully singing their bluesy tunes. I always find White-headed Woodpeckers, all three nuthatches (Red-breasted, Pygmy, and White-breasted), and Brown Creepers. This summer trip yielded plenty of Western Wood-Pewees and Warbling Vireos. Although not bursting with concentrated birding activity, Fallen Leaf Lake offers a beautiful hike. If you go early enough, you can walk quite a ways without running into people.

We checked out another park for the first time that crosses state lines: Van Sickle Bi-State Park. Colorful Western Tanagers popped out against the trees, a House Wren sang its heart out despite our close presence, and Steller’s Jays were busy eating enormous ants off the ground. My favorite moment was hearing a Fox Sparrow sing. These sparrows are present in the East Bay, but only in the winter and thus they are pretty quiet. The song was so captivating that I had to capture a recording on my phone for later submission on my birding checklist. I will definitely check out this Nevada site again and venture out further than a quarter mile from the parking lot!

Overall a great quick trip that gave us respite from the recording-breaking Bay Area heat.