Osprey Occupancy of Mono Lake—Unique Habitat in Eastern California

The Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) is known to nest in a diversity of habitats, as long as fishable waters are accessible (Bent 1937). Although accessibility is generally described as within 1.6 km (Zeiner et al. 1988–1990, Poole 1989,,Ewins 1997), Ospreys have been recorded travelling up to 20 km from nest locations to forage (Greene et al. 1983, Hagan and Walters 1990, R. Bierregaard unpubl. data). In California, Ospreys were known to occur predominantly along the Pacific coastline (Linton 1908, Grinnell and Miller 1944, Zeiner et al. 1988–1990, Houghton and Rymon 1997) and at major inland lakes such as Eagle Lake in northeastern California (Ray 1915) and Clear Lake in the Central Valley (Anderson et al. 2008). However, data regarding breeding Ospreys in California is incomplete, with minimal published data prior to...