Thanks to the acres of wetlands, mosquitos are by far the most numerous wildlife in MODOC!  They are so thick during an evening drive through that we don’t even get out of the car.  The coolest sighting of the evening is all because of them, a huge flock of night hawks.  Typically, we are lucky to get a quick glimpse of one or two of these acrobatic buggers just before dusk but tonight a flock of twenty or more swoops and dives through the bug filled air over pond and wetland.  It is an amazing sight. 

Sand Hill Cranes nest here in wet meadows.  Seems they feed in shallow water too.  I have always thought of these big birds as plains feeders and dwellers but today I see one wading.  It looks so out of place but it seems this is typical behavior during breeding and nesting.  Learn something every day!

Mule deer graze on high grass and doe shelter young fawns on islands, smart.  California Quail scurry about and from their perches atop scrub brush send out alarms.  The distinct calls of cranes and geese fill the air along with the warbles and rasps of red-winged and yellow-headed blackbirds.  Waders and ducks add to the noise; not in the large numbers seen during migration but many different types are still represented.  We even manage to walk a short trail during the cooler morning hours before the mosquitos really get going.