The waters of Mono Lake, with an extraordinarily high pH of 9.8, and two or three times saltier than ocean water, host no fish of its own. But it does host the nests of Osprey, also called fish-hawks, which eat little else, safe on the tufas that project out of the lake’s surface. The ospreys are large birds with wingspans up to about six feet, and they mate for life, roaming five miles or more each spring, summer, and fall they spend here every year, fishing at nearby lakes and rivers, more hospitable waters than the ones they surround themselves with. Their nests are huge.
We were here in April, alone with the birds, and they rewarded us by repeatedly flying over our heads, perhaps curious about these early visitors to their lake fastness.
The Ospreys are lucky they have the Mono Lake Committee on their side. The Mono Lake Committee and its supporters are the ones who saved Mono Lake and its entire, odd ecosystem from Los Angeles’s untamable thirst. LA wanted the water from Mono Lake (desire being over two hundred miles away), and they wanted it by hook or crook. If you’ve seen the movie Chinatown you get the idea.
Photos by Lori Boville
