Malibu Lagoon Trip Report: 24 January, 2010
January 24, 2010
Clear and cold conditions at the start:
at 8:30, the temperature was about 41 and a light breeze stirred the leaves. By 11:00 the temperature had risen to 65, the breeze was gone and we were carrying rather than wearing our coats and sweatshirts. Large waves broke over the offshore rocks; the large flotilla of surfers appreciated the action. Our recent rains (6 – 12 inches, depending on where you live) had scoured the lagoon bottom of sand and blew a big outlet through the east end of the beach, leaving exposed gravel all over the lagoon floor. Side channels were drained of water with little but mud remaining. We were very surprised to find, close to the almost 1000 gulls resting on the gravel, two Peregrine Falcons. [Local photographer James Kenney managed to get an excellent photo of one of them, resting between swoops and stoops, as it perched on the sole remaining snag in the lagoon.] The gulls, ducks, shorebirds, grebes, pelicans and cormorants completely ignored them until one decided to get up and take a few swoops at the flock: that got them moving in a loud and colorful burst of wings. We eventually arrived at the far end of the beach closest to the pier where we spent a long time scoping for the Long-tailed Duck (sans long tail) that’s been there since Christmas day, and admiring the six Black Skimmers and two Black Oystercatchers (uncommon visitors to the lagoon) on the exposed gravel down near the tidal zone. We eventually found it, actively diving among the scoters and grebes over near the end of Malibu Pier, noticable primarily by its blotchy pale plumage and smaller size. On our way back we came across 6 Glaucous-winged Gulls, an average number for January. A pair of American Avocets were feeding among the Willets in the lagoon, Altogether we had a nice count of 70 species with 1,906 birds, most of them gulls.Malibu Bird Census | 2010 | |
Collected by | Jan | |
SMBAS Members | ||
For Year 2010 | ||
Species | ||
1 | Gadwall | 20 |
2 | American Wigeon | 12 |
3 | Mallard | 10 |
4 | Northern Shoveler | 4 |
5 | Green-winged Teal | 7 |
6 | Lesser Scaup | 1 |
7 | Surf Scoter | 35 |
8 | Long-tailed Duck | 1 |
9 | Bufflehead | 6 |
10 | Red-brstd Merganser | 8 |
11 | Ruddy Duck | 30 |
12 | Red-throated Loon | 1 |
13 | Pacific Loon | 1 |
14 | Common Loon | 1 |
15 | Pied-billed Grebe | 1 |
16 | Horned Grebe | 1 |
17 | Eared Grebe | 3 |
18 | Western Grebe | 15 |
19 | Brown Pelican | 35 |
20 | Brandt’s Cormorant | 1 |
21 | Dble-crstd Cormorant | 42 |
22 | Great Blue Heron | 2 |
23 | Great Egret | 3 |
24 | Snowy Egret | 15 |
25 | Red-shouldered Hawk | 1 |
26 | Red-tailed Hawk | 1 |
27 | Peregrine Falcon | 2 |
28 | Sora | 1 |
29 | American Coot | 284 |
30 | Blk-bellied Plover | 45 |
31 | Snowy Plover | 54 |
32 | Killdeer | 4 |
33 | Black Oystercatcher | 2 |
34 | American Avocet | 2 |
35 | Willet | 15 |
36 | Spotted Sandpiper | 4 |
37 | Whimbrel | 2 |
38 | Marbled Godwit | 4 |
39 | Ruddy Turnstone | 13 |
40 | Sanderling | 85 |
41 | Least Sandpiper | 21 |
42 | Heermann’s Gull | 5 |
43 | Ring-billed Gull | 55 |
44 | California Gull | 875 |
45 | Western Gull | 45 |
46 | Glaucous-wingd Gull | 6 |
47 | Royal Tern | 12 |
48 | Elegant Tern | 1 |
49 | Forster’s Tern | 1 |
50 | Black Skimmer | 6 |
51 | Rock Pigeon | 8 |
52 | Mourning Dove | 2 |
53 | Anna’s Hummingbird | 3 |
54 | Allen’s Hummingbird | 2 |
55 | Black Phoebe | 4 |
56 | Say’s Phoebe | 1 |
57 | American Crow | 5 |
58 | Bushtit | 4 |
59 | Bewick’s Wren | 2 |
60 | Northern Mockingbird | 2 |
61 | European Starling | 35 |
62 | Yellow-rumpd Warbler | 8 |
63 | Common Yellowthroat | 3 |
64 | Spotted Towhee | 1 |
65 | California Towhee | 2 |
66 | Song Sparrow | 3 |
67 | Red-winged Blackbird | 3 |
68 | Great-tailed Grackle | 1 |
69 | House Finch | 12 |
70 | Lesser Goldfinch | 4 |
Totals by Type | ||
Waterfowl | 134 | |
Water Birds-Other | 386 | |
Herons, Egrets | 20 | |
Quail & Raptors | 4 | |
Shorebirds | 251 | |
Gulls & Terns | 1006 | |
Doves | 10 | |
Other Non-Pass. | 5 | |
Passerines | 90 | |
Totals Birds | 1906 | |
Total Species* | ||
Waterfowl | 11 | |
Water Birds-Other | 12 | |
Herons, Egrets | 3 | |
Quail & Raptors | 3 | |
Shorebirds | 12 | |
Gulls & Terns | 9 | |
Doves | 2 | |
Other Non-Pass. | 2 | |
Passerines | 16 | |
Totals Species | 70 |
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