Negit Island is an island in Mono Lake

Mono Lake

Mono Lake is a large, shallow saline lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in a basin that has no outlet to the ocean...

. Negit (along with nearby Paoha Island

Paoha Island

Paoha Island is a volcanic island in Mono Lake, an endorheic lake in the U.S. state of California. Formed by a series of eruptions in the 17th century, Paoha is composed of lakebed sediments deposited above volcanic domes. It is one of two major islands in the lake, the other being the smaller...

) is a volcanic cone

Volcanic cone

Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic formations. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and size of the fragments ejected during the eruption...

 less than 2000 years old. It can be considered to be the northernmost of the Mono Craters. Negit is composed of three dark dacite

Dacite

Dacite is an igneous, volcanic rock. It has an aphanitic to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite. The relative proportions of feldspars and quartz in dacite, and in many other volcanic rocks, are illustrated in the QAPF diagram...

 lava flows.

Negit is an important nesting ground for migratory birds, including the California Gull

California Gull

The California Gull Larus californicus is a medium-sized gull, smaller on average than the Herring Gull but larger on average than the Ring-billed Gull, though may overlap in size greatly with both....

, which can often be seen wheeling in the air above Mono Lake. The fall of the lake level since 1941 created a land bridge to the island. The land bridge permitted predators, such as coyote

Coyote

The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...

s, to raid the bird eggs of the island. However, since 1994, the lake level has been permitted to rise and the land bridge is currently submerged.

Negit Island is accessible by boat

Boat

A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a...

s (commonly kayak

Kayak

A kayak is a small, relatively narrow, human-powered boat primarily designed to be manually propelled by means of a double blade paddle.The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each seating one paddler...

s). However, the island is off-limits from April 1 through August 1, to protect the nesting gulls.

See also

• Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve
  Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve
  The Mono Lake Tufa State Reserve is located near Yosemite National Park within Mono County, in eastern California. It was established in 1981 by the California State Legislature, to preserve the natural limestone "tufa tower" formations at Mono Lake.-Access:...
  
  
• Mono Basin National Scenic Area
  Mono Basin National Scenic Area
  The Mono Basin National Scenic Area is a protected area in Eastern California that surrounds Mono Lake and the northern half of the Mono Craters volcanic field. It is administered by the Inyo National Forest as a unit of the National Forest Scenic Area program, under the U.S...
  
  
• List of islands of California