Mono Lake is a strange and eerie place in the daytime. Past midnight it takes on a whole new eeriness with coyotes baying at the moon just a few yards away it can be quite distracting and a little unnerving. Still the beauty of this strange lake cannot be denied even in the middle of a half moonlit night. The lake was dead calm with little to no waves making for stunning reflections. The cloud cover was neither too much or too little and the starlight was spectacular on this incredibly clear night. The strange rock formations are called Tufas (tou-fa) and are formed underwater. As the freshwater was diverted from the lake, these strange and eerie rock formations rose to heights of 30 feet or more. They are now receding back into the lake as less water is diverted from the lake which is a natural breeding ground for the California Gull and many other water fowl.