High Sierra Topix

Wanted to do some web research before adding the below interesting raptor sighting. While we at Kibbie, we noticed a mostly white with black coloration raptor flying back and forth along the lake. It would appear every hour or so and sometime make a high pitched squeal. I have rather poor knowledge of California birds and can recognize just a modest number of species by sight. At one point we see it flying with something down below in its claws maybe like a dark snake. But when it finally gets close enough we recognize it is one of the lake's trout and in fact a good sized one. So that's when I start thinking osprey, a bird I don't believe I'd knowingly seen before in the Sierra. The next day we saw it dive down to the water but veer away at the last moment. And then a second larger osprey appeared and were flying about several hours. And indeed read the following on a Yosemite bird website:

Pandion haliaetus; Osprey, Fish Eagle
...Summer R., principally along the coast and on larger lakes. C. V. to Yosemite region; most likely to be seen at Hetch Hetchy and Lake Eleanor.

Kibbie Creek is a tributary to Lake Eleanor that is actually a reservoir just a few miles to the south so it is not surprising those birds spend time at Kibbie since it has had an established rainbow trout fishery since the late 1880s. I wonder where the osprey nest and would expect the many cliffs at Kibbie might interest that species though the massive cliffs at Hetch Hetchy would be far more interesting. Would also expect osprey visit Lake Vernon and Evelyn Lake.

SSSdave wrote:Wanted to do some web research before adding the below interesting raptor sighting. While we at Kibbie, we noticed a mostly white with black coloration raptor flying back and forth along the lake. It would appear every hour or so and sometime make a high pitched squeal. I have rather poor knowledge of California birds and can recognize just a modest number of species by sight. At one point we see it flying with something down below in its claws maybe like a dark snake. But when it finally gets close enough we recognize it is one of the lake's trout and in fact a good sized one. So that's when I start thinking osprey, a bird I don't believe I'd knowingly seen before in the Sierra. The next day we saw it dive down to the water but veer away at the last moment. And then a second larger osprey appeared and were flying about several hours. And indeed read the following on a Yosemite bird website:

Pandion haliaetus; Osprey, Fish Eagle
...Summer R., principally along the coast and on larger lakes. C. V. to Yosemite region; most likely to be seen at Hetch Hetchy and Lake Eleanor.

Kibbie Creek is a tributary to Lake Eleanor that is actually a reservoir just a few miles to the south so it is not surprising those birds spend time at Kibbie since it has had an established rainbow trout fishery since the late 1880s. I wonder where the osprey nest and would expect the many cliffs at Kibbie might interest that species though the massive cliffs at Hetch Hetchy would be far more interesting. Would also expect osprey visit Lake Vernon and Edyth Lake.

I've seen Osprey and Golden Eagle in Virginia Lk, and Golden Eagle at Evelyn.

Might not see an Osprey again at Virginia. Amazing how many Eagles you get blurred in your pics when you didn't plan on it.

Thanks for the report and pictures, Dave. I especially like that last shot of Kibbie from the unconventional (and hard to reach!) angle. Cool about the osprey sighting, too. I see them often enough in the lowlands, and had been wondering if they ever visited backcountry lakes.

Matt