If you go down to Lake Mono in winter, you will find no trace of shrimp in the water. In winter, the lake turns cold, and the harvested shrimps die collectively, and the tiny harvested shrimps breed mysteriously in spring. Where did these new generation of bumper shrimp come from? In late summer and early autumn, the mother shrimp will lay many tiny oocysts and sink to the bottom of the lake all winter. After the climate warms in spring, tiny oocysts will hatch and become a new generation of shrimp. Many sagebrush trees
No matter where you wander in the Mono Basin, you may encounter sagebrush, because it can grow in different habitats and heights besides the poles. This thorny shrub can adapt to extreme cold, heat, sunshine and drought. Artemisia argyi is the most important plant community in Mono Basin and the most widely distributed desert plant community in North America. Among the sagebrush trees, you will be surprised to find different kinds of plants and animals: bitter shrubs, desert peaches, dwarf lilies, sage grouse, sage sparrows, kangaroos, chipmunks, mule deer, black-tailed jackrabbit, coyotes and occasionally cougars. Artemisia argyi grows slowly, usually only 2 to 4 feet tall, although some old Artemisia argyi has grown to 7 feet tall. The indigenous Paiute people used mugwort leaves to make tea to treat many diseases and hung them outside their homes to prevent evil spirits from invading.
Fragrant forest
South of Mono Lake is the largest pure Jeffrey pine forest in the world. If you put your nose near the wrinkled bark, you will smell cream, pineapple or vanilla, depending on your preference. On a calm morning or evening, the air will be filled with the sweet smell of Jefferson Lab. It is related to Huang Songyou, USA. These trees have dense crowns and grow straight. Compared with their beauty, their wood is more valuable. Jefferson, like Pinus ponderosa in the United States, was heavily cut down during the heyday of gold mining in Bodie Town, and was recently included in Ewing National Forest Management. Although almost all the big trees have been cut down and the forest has been cut by ancient logging roads, you can still enjoy the magnificent forests, bitterbrush, monkeyflower, thorny oleander, lupine, mule deer and jackal, which are combined with the sagebrush.
Cold and clean water overflows along the canyon eroded by glaciers, meanders through the arid Mono basin and flows to Mono Lake. Along the streams formed by melting snow in the Sierra Nevada, many kinds of trees, shrubs and herbs take root. Jefferson, lodgepole pine, poplar, black poplar, willow, wild rose, sweet sage, lupine and desert brush) * * * * together constitute the Mono basin. RushCreek The coast of Lee Vining Creek facing Mono Lake was once covered with dense plants until the stream turned to Los Angeles, which caused the riverbed to dry up and eventually destroyed the riverside habitat below the dam. Decades after the water flowed south to Los Angeles, the stream dried up. Today, most of the water has returned to the stream. Now you can walk on Lixi Trail and see willows, poplars, pine trees and hydrophilic plants growing again along Lixi Trail.
Pinyon pine trees are scattered around Mono basin, growing densely and prosperously. In autumn, this single-needle pine will provide abundant pine nuts for birds, rodents, chipmunks and even humans. Dwarf pine nuts contain balanced protein, fat and carbohydrate, which is an excellent food source! In the pine forest, you can see juniper in Utah, sagebrush, equisetum microphyllum, phlox, arrow bamboo, lupine and many other plants. Dwarf pine is the most common lodging place for blue-headed Jay, mountain tit, blue-gray mosquito catcher, bush Jay and many other birds. If you are near the edge of Mono Lake in a calm and waveless summer, you will hear the hum of a large area of black alkali flies covering the lake. If you get close to them, they will move away, but they don't care much about humans. If you are an algae in the lake, it is very different. On the lake, even underwater, you will see alkali flies busy eating microalgae. There are two of the three stages in the life of the alkali fly, the larval stage and the pupal stage are all in the lake. When the fly is about to emerge from the pupa, the head of the pupa first cracks, and a small air bag begins to expand and float to the top of the pupa shell. The air bubble bursts, and the hatched adult flies recombine themselves and float out of the pupa shell to enter the life cycle of adults. Sometimes adult flies will return to the water to lay eggs or eat algae, and fine hairs will carry a thin layer of air and become scuba breathing apparatus for flies. In a calm and waveless summer, you can see many small silvery flies wandering at the bottom of the lake in the shadow.
Nutrient-rich bird food
In Mono Lake, alkali flies are food, and most birds feed on alkali flies. Alkali fly provides more fat and protein than shrimp, and it is also the staple food of Phalarope, which enables it to grow feathers and fly 3000 miles to South America without landing. From midsummer to the end of summer, you can see Drosophila Wilson foraging on the shady water, which will create a small vortex and bring the larvae and pupae of alkali flies to the water for easy feeding. You can also see California seagulls and Brewer blackbirds strolling by the lake and eating alkali flies with their mouths open.
The significance of Kuzadika
Alkaline flies are a very important food source for Kuzadika people in summer. Kutzadika people are linguistically related to the Paiute people in the north. Kutzadika'a people used to hunt and gather in the Mono Basin. They collected the pupae of alkali flies in the shallow water around the lake, because the pupae of alkali flies are rich in fat and protein, which is an excellent food source for them. "Kuziadikaya" means "fly eater" in Kuziadikaya.
There are trillions of shrimps in the salt water of Mono Lake. Its scientific name is Artemia monica, which is a kind of shrimp that can't be found anywhere else in the world. In warm summer, the number of shrimps in Mono Lake is about 4 to 6 trillion. Shrimp in Mono Lake is very small, about the size of a thumb nail. Mono Lake in July looks like shrimp soup, which has no edible value for human beings, but birds regard it as an exquisite snack, and a large number of shrimps provide birds with a hearty meal. Even so, birds' pecking rarely affects the number of shrimp in the harvest year until nearly 2 million shrimps have ears? ? (Eared Grebe) Come and enjoy the "shrimp cocktail" dinner in autumn. Mono Lake International Airport
Although the "runway" in Wenning Town is short and crude, the Mono Basin may be the busiest airport in California, which is dedicated to the landing and landing of millions of birds from midsummer to autumn. It has become a life support station on a Pacific flight, pricking up its ears for migration. ? Nearly 100 species of birds were found in Mono Lake, such as ear snipe, Wilson snipe and red-necked snipe. Why Mono Lake? In midsummer, a large number of alkali flies and shrimps provide endless food for migratory birds, and the wetlands in the river delta and lakeside also provide good habitats for birds.
High-density desert bird breeding ground
If you go to the beach in California and see a California seagull, it is likely to be born in Mono Lake. In late spring, 44,000 to 65,000 California seagulls will fly from all over the country to nest and hatch on this little-known island, Mono Lake, which is the second largest California seagull breeding ground in North America (the first place is the Great Salt Lake). Most seagulls used to nest in Nijit Island and Blackcinder Cone Island, all the way to the northern part of Boha Island. 1979, the stream was diverted, causing the lake to fall to a land bridge between Nikki Island and the land. Hungry coyotes can easily prey on seagull chicks, so adults give up the island. Today, most California seagulls nest on the island near the northern shore of Nicky Island, and a few seagulls choose to nest on the small island of Boha near the west coast of Boha, but not on Boha Island at all. 1999 As the lake rose, seagulls began to return to their original natural nesting site, Nicky Island.
An incredible journey
Of all the birds visiting Mono Lake, Wilson's snipe is the most difficult traveler. This small shorebird, which is not much bigger than a fist, hatches in North America or southern Canada and arrives at Lake Mono in midsummer. During a few weeks in Mono Lake, they will change their hair styles and double their weight. In mid-September, they will mysteriously disappear, take off in the dark and start flying to South America. For these birds, this 3000-mile non-landing flight is surprising enough. What is even more amazing is the speed at which they reached their destination-it took an incredible three days.
October rally
Better than Las Vegas! The biggest rally in North America was held in Mono Lake!
Do you have ears? ? (Earbird) is a diving bird, which looks like a duck. It has spent its whole life in the water. It has reached Lake Mono more times than any other species. In autumn, observation from the air shows that there are1500,000 to1800,000 birds on the lake, accounting for most of the number in North America. Mono Lake provides a sumptuous shrimp-catching feast for these waterfowl. After eating a lot of harvest shrimp, Our weight will double, sometimes even double (isn't that what ordinary parties do? ), a lot? ? Therefore, flying is too heavy, and you must lose weight before flying to areas that avoid winter before you can take off.
A transit point for the flight journey.
Mono Lake is a small part of the great migration life cycle, because there are a large number of petal-webbed snipes, seagulls and seagulls here. ? Nearly 100 other birds depend on this lake for survival. Therefore, Mono Lake is designated as a part of the Western Hemisphere Coastal Bird Sanctuary Network (WHSRN), which is a collection of endangered migratory bird habitats in South America and North America. Mono Lake, Great Salt Lake and other lakes in South America are places where birds like Wilson's snipe live. Mono Lake is paired with the Great Salt Lake in Utah and Machiquita in Argentina, and their combined roles provide a bird like Wilson's phalalope. During the migration season of shore birds, you will find some rare birds near Mono Lake, such as American gray-billed snipe, western snipe and the smallest sandpiper, snow snipe and white-faced ibis. There are also rare China sandpiper, Baird sandpiper, Sabine Gull, Black tern and parasitic Jaeger, and you will know how important Mono Lake is to birds.
According to incomplete data, there is evidence that there are nearly one million water ducks in Mono Lake in 1948. About 40 years later, 1986, only1.4000 is left. The diversion of water to Los Angeles has fundamentally changed the waterfowl habitat in the Mono Basin. Coupled with the decline in the number of habitats throughout North America, the number of waterfowl has been decreasing for decades. Restoring waterfowl habitat in Mono Basin can increase the number of migratory waterfowl, but can we still see as much as in the past? Today, you can still see many kinds of waterfowl in Mono Lake, mainly in autumn. Canada goose, mallard duck, northern shovel duck, northern flat-tailed duck, black-tailed duck, red-skinned duck, cinnamon short-necked duck and green-winged short-necked duck. In late autumn, if you are willing to take the time to walk out of the paths you often pass, you may occasionally meet giant ducklings, grass ducks, snow geese and even migrating tundra swans. Between roads, hunters and mountain lions, black-tailed deer face many carnivores. On Highway 395 in Mono area, hundreds of black-tailed deer die every year due to traffic accidents (preliminary research shows that 700 deer are killed every year). Black-tailed deer usually move to lower areas in colder months and higher places in summer, so they are often forced to cross the road. Most of the year, you can find them near Mono Lake or in Lee Canyon. People even found black-tailed deer on Paoha and Negit Island! A deer can crawl and swim with a dog? If you find deer anywhere outside the island, you can assume that the puma is nearby. Mountain lions almost only eat black-tailed deer. They can track the activities of black-tailed deer all year round, so you must always be vigilant. Hunters here don't rely entirely on black-tailed deer for food (most people only hunt in shopping carts). You are much more likely to see deer in Mono Basin than puma. If you really see a puma, you are really lucky. A few people have seen this magnificent and elusive carnivore in the eastern mountains. If you see a live deer, you are also very lucky, because usually people see a killed deer on the road.
Uncertain future
1986, the bighorn sheep in the Sierra Nevada was reintroduced to the Tioga Pass area in the west of Mono Lake, and was called "Lee Viningherd". In recent years, their number has dropped sharply. The hunting of mountain lions, the cold winter and various human activities in the surrounding areas may be the factors leading to their decline. In the south 100 mile, the number of their natural offspring, the Mount Baxter herd, is also declining. Nowadays, the number of plum communities in the canyon is in jeopardy and needs long-term restoration. Compared with the records of 1986, there were more than 200 sheep at that time, and now only about 100 adult Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep are still in Sierra Nevada (according to the investigation results of 1988). This mammal has become one of the most endangered animals in North America. You may see California bighorn sheep along the 120 highway in the eastern mountains. On the highest peak, these endangered sheep wandered around and stared at the wide blue Mono Lake.
If you go to South Tuffa Grove on Lake Mono in summer, you will see many spring flowers, flies and salted shrimps, but it may be difficult for you to find any desert wildlife at noon. During the day, desert mammals slow down and conserve their strength until dusk. If you have a pair of good eyesight, full patience and slow and light movements, you may see cotton-tailed nuttall, ground squirrels in black-tailed jackrabbit or Belding. If you can wait patiently for a long time, you may see more. Coyotes and long-tailed weasels were observed near Nanquanhua, and pumas were occasionally seen. If you camp in the mountains near Lizhen or Lundi Canyon, you will have a chance to see black bears. Black bears usually don't live in the eastern mountainous areas, but the increase of human excrement such as camping food provides bears with a new food source and increases their chances of coming and going.
Rattlesnakes are very rare in Mono Basin. They usually hide in alkaline habitats near lakes. The only recent discovery came from the northwest corner of Mono Basin. Banded snakes and gopher snakes are more common. In the west of the lake near the canyon, you may meet the elusive rubber python, a smooth, brown rubber snake that is completely harmless to people. You are more likely to meet lizards than snakes. Side-spotted lizard and sagebrush lizard, nicknamed "Blue Belly", are the two most common lizards. As early as the beginning of March, great basin's Toad will appear near lakes and meadows with water. At dusk, they keep humming for hours to show their existence. They come out of underground caves, mate, lay eggs in shallow pools (not lakes), and then return to live underground for nearly a year.