Malibu Lagoon Trip Report & July-Dec Bird Census: 25 December, 2011

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Birders gather on 1st footbridge (C. Almdale 12/25/11)

Many years ago on Christmas Day I woke up with a start, realizing that no one had volunteered to lead that day’s lagoon field trip. So off I went to make sure the trip took place.

Meanwhile, Maja Block awoke, thinking the same thing. She jumped in her car, binos in hand, and we discovered each other at the lagoon. No one else came! So we led each other around the lagoon. It was very cold and clear: ice rimmed the edges of the lagoon, believe it or not. The beach was empty, very peaceful, and loads of birds made the best of the lack of humans.

Today couldn’t have been more different. About 20 people showed up, much to my surprise. Temperatures rose to about 66°, and we had to remove clothing layers. Surfers surfed; walkers walked and resters zoned out on the beach. High tide waves were washing over a stretch of beach into the lagoon. The only similarity was bunches of birds.

Loads of ducks: 10 species in all.

Osprey (C.Bragg)

Only 12 Brown Pelicans, but far out on the sea were hundreds of Black-vented Shearwaters cruising along to the west on stiff wings. One Cattle Egret poked through the pickleweed with a couple of Snowy Egrets – this species usually follow grazing animals (hence the name) around, eating insects stirred by the animals’ hooves, and they’re appear at the lagoon about 1 out of 8 visits, mostly in Nov-Dec. Black-bellied Plovers remain relatively abundant, and the Osprey continues the every-other-month appearance schedule he’s maintained since June.

Species and numbers are probably under-counted, as many birds stayed to the inland side of the sandy island, visible only from inland. At that distance it’s difficult to identify and count them and they can and do move around by the time we get to the beach. So I just don’t count them when I can’t see them.

New arrivals were: 9 Northern Pintail, 1 Lesser Scaup, 1 Red-throated Loon, 200 (at least) Black-vented Shearwaters far out at sea, 1 Cooper’s Hawk, 1 American Avocet, 1 Mew Gull, 1 Marsh Wren, 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and 2 Western Meadowlarks.

Northern Pintail Female (C.Almdale)

Pintails don’t show up a lot at the lagoon: only 19 visits out of 180 trips for which we have counts, including 9 visits since December 1998. Western Meadowlarks are even less common: of their 18 visits, 13 have occurred since August 2000. These birds have been hanging out on the beach – not exactly a meadow! – for a couple of weeks not. Apparently they find the wrack left at the high tide line productive for invertebrates.

Mew Gulls don’t show up often. For some reason, they really enjoy sewage plants, and in winter there is nearly always a flock of them out in front of the Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant in El Segundo. The single bird found lurking among the Ring-billed Gulls was  a welcome surprise.

Back in the 1970’s when I first began birding at the lagoon, I could find Marsh Wrens only upstream of the bridge where there was a large bed of reeds. The torrents from a big El Nino winter in the 80’s (I think) washed all those reeds out to sea, but they’ve gradually reappeared, primarily in the 1^st channel and near Adamson House. All of the wren’s 34 lagoon appearances for which we have counts have been after August 1993.

This blog gives us width sufficient only for 6 months of data, but if you check the prior lagoon June & December reports, we now have 3 years of lagoon data on our blogsite.

Our next three field trips: Antelope Valley Raptors – 14 January, 8am;  Malibu Lagoon – 22 January, 8:30am; Salton Sea – 11/12 February, 9am
Our next program: Tuesday, 7 February, 7:30 pm – Owls of Southern California, presented by Lance Benner.
The usual reminders will be emailed from the blog.

As a reminder to those coming to our 10 a.m. Parent’s & Kids Birdwalk, it meets at the beach trail footbridge closest to the parking lot.

Links: Unusual birds at Malibu Lagoon
Aerial photo of Malibu Lagoon from 9/23/02.
Prior checklists: Jan-June’11, July-Dec ’10, Jan-June ’10, Jul-Dec ‘09, and Jan-June ‘09.
[Chuck Almdale].