Malibu Lagoon Trip Report: 25 March, 2012
A fine morning for birding! With a low ceiling, sporadic rain, and a 10 mph breeze, we were quite wet within the first 20 minutes of birding. Had we not welcomed a hardy couple from New York, we might have stayed in the car. The birds, however, seemed stimulated by the cool rainy weather and we were able to see a decent number of species in the lagoon, although fewer than our usual allotment of coastal scrub species. The Snowy Plovers were few and scattered outside the enclosure.
Our most pleasant surprise was a flight of migrating Kingbirds (Westerns?) Where we weren’t wearing waterproofs, we were soaked to the skin by 9:40 and called it a day. We hope there were no family groups who came after our departure. [Lu Plauzoles]
Our next three field trips: Placerita Canyon / Walker Ranch 7 April, 8:30 am; Paramount Ranch to Malibu Creek Flowers & Birds Hike, 15 April, 8 am; Malibu Lagoon 22 April 8:30 & 10 am.
Our next program: Tuesday, 3 April, 7:30 pm – Madrona Marsh Flora & Fauna, presented by Tracy Drake. 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: July-Dec’11, Jan-June’11, July-Dec ’10, Jan-June ’10, Jul-Dec ‘09, and Jan-June ‘09.
Note: Species and numbers this month are much lower than normal due to difficulty of birding & counting in the rain.
Malibu Census 2012 |
22-Jan |
26-Feb |
25-Mar |
Temperature |
68-75 |
48-64 |
52-54 |
Tide Height |
+6.49 |
+3.37 |
+3.64 |
Low/High &Time |
H:0803 |
H:1136 |
H:1146 |
Snow Goose | 1 | ||
Brant | 1 | ||
Gadwall | 31 | 35 | 18 |
American Wigeon | 2 | 8 | 3 |
Mallard | 23 | 30 | 24 |
Northern Shoveler | 46 | 35 | 18 |
Northern Pintail | 10 | 8 | 5 |
Green-winged Teal | 37 | 38 | 11 |
Surf Scoter | 14 | 40 | |
Bufflehead | 26 | 4 | |
Red-breasted Merganser | 6 | 8 | 2 |
Ruddy Duck | 59 | 24 | 20 |
Red-throated Loon | 2 | ||
Pacific Loon | 1 | 3 | |
Common Loon | 1 | ||
Pied-billed Grebe | 3 | 2 | |
Eared Grebe | 4 | 2 | |
Western Grebe | 8 | 40 | |
Brandt’s Cormorant | 3 | 15 | 1 |
Double-crested Cormorant | 37 | 28 | 30 |
Pelagic Cormorant | 1 | 2 | |
Brown Pelican | 48 | 12 | 40 |
Great Blue Heron | 7 | ||
Great Egret | 2 | 2 | 1 |
Snowy Egret | 7 | 8 | 12 |
Green Heron | 1 | ||
Black-crowned Night-Heron | 2 | ||
Osprey | 1 | ||
Red-shouldered Hawk | 1 | 2 | |
Sora | 2 | 3 | |
American Coot | 345 | 285 | 20 |
Black-bellied Plover | 65 | 93 | 7 |
Snowy Plover | 81 | 54 | 14 |
Killdeer | 2 | 10 | |
Black Oystercatcher | 5 | 2 | |
American Avocet | 2 | 1 | |
Spotted Sandpiper | 2 | 1 | |
Willet | 3 | 3 | |
Whimbrel | 1 | 2 | 18 |
Marbled Godwit | 2 | ||
Ruddy Turnstone | 15 | 13 | |
Sanderling | 200 | 100 | |
Least Sandpiper | 12 | 20 | |
Boneparte’s Gull | 2 | ||
Heermann’s Gull | 16 | ||
Ring-billed Gull | 150 | 35 | 8 |
Western Gull | 120 | 55 | 30 |
California Gull | 1900 | 360 | 12 |
Glaucous-winged Gull | 5 | 2 | |
Caspian Tern | 3 | ||
Forster’s Tern | 1 | ||
Royal Tern | 16 | 1 | |
Rock Pigeon | 5 | 4 | |
Mourning Dove | 2 | 2 | |
Anna’s Hummingbird | 2 | 2 | |
Allen’s Hummingbird | 2 | 1 | |
Belted Kingfisher | 1 | 1 | |
Black Phoebe | 3 | 4 | |
Say’s Phoebe | 1 | ||
Cassin’s Kingbird | 2 | ||
Western Kingbird | 16 | ||
American Crow | 4 | 8 | 3 |
Rough-winged Swallow | 2 | 6 | |
Bushtit | 26 | 4 | |
Bewick’s Wren | 1 | ||
Marsh Wren | 1 | ||
Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 2 | ||
Hermit Thrush | 1 | ||
Northern Mockingbird | 1 | 2 | |
European Starling | 1 | 15 | |
Yellow-rumped Warbler | 3 | 1 | |
Common Yellowthroat | 4 | 2 | 1 |
Spotted Towhee | 1 | 1 | |
California Towhee | 2 | ||
Savannah Sparrow | 2 | ||
Song Sparrow | 2 | 8 | 13 |
White-crowned Sparrow | 22 | 4 | |
Red-winged Blackbird | 15 | 2 | |
Brewer’s Blackbird | 1 | ||
Great-tailed Grackle | 13 | 8 | |
Brown-headed Cowbird | 2 | ||
House Finch | 25 | 10 | 19 |
Totals by Type | Jan | Feb | Mar |
Waterfowl | 255 | 231 | 101 |
Water Birds-Other | 452 | 395 | 91 |
Herons, Egrets | 18 | 10 | 14 |
Quail & Raptors | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Shorebirds | 388 | 275 | 65 |
Gulls & Terns | 2207 | 455 | 53 |
Doves | 7 | 6 | 0 |
Other Non-Pass. | 5 | 4 | 0 |
Passerines | 110 | 92 | 62 |
Totals Birds | 3444 | 1470 | 386 |
Total Species | Jan | Feb | Mar |
Waterfowl | 11 | 11 | 8 |
Water Birds-Other | 10 | 12 | 4 |
Herons, Egrets | 4 | 2 | 3 |
Quail & Raptors | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Shorebirds | 11 | 8 | 7 |
Gulls & Terns | 6 | 7 | 4 |
Doves | 2 | 2 | 0 |
Other Non-Pass. | 3 | 3 | 0 |
Passerines | 16 | 18 | 9 |
Totals Species – 82 | 65 | 64 | 35 |
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