This slideshow follows the same path as the 27 May show.  Compare them to see the changes.  Don’t forget to visit our new page for the Malibu Lagoon 2012 Project, frequently updated with new photos.

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As expected, the west channels area is a muddy mess.   The parking lot is about 1/3^rd size, holding 35-40 cars, and the perimeter access road is now the beach path, fenced with chain link and plastic mesh along the channel side.   We looked through the various viewing holes, but there was little to see.  Overall, we saw two areas taped off, indicating the presence of active nests, although there may be more.  A few passerines were along the other side of the path, but most of the land birds we saw (see trip list below) were either in the air or at Adamson House. We saw four families of Mallard: two in the south channel and two in the main lagoon.   The White-tailed Kite which has been hanging around for about a week was patrolling the hill northeast of the lagoon.

Two juvenile Bullock’s Orioles chased each other in the large colony cypresses near the southwest corner of the channels area, but no other roosting birds were there.  These cypresses have looked increasing “ill” for quite a while.  I suspect that when the foundation was laid for the house going up just below their east side, the tree’s roots were severed or otherwise damaged.   I would not be surprised to see the trees gone within a few years.

It was about 90 minutes after low tide when we arrived on the beach, and many Elegant Terns were resting on the exposed cobbles at sea’s-edge while the Whimbrels foraged among them.   As the tide rose and waves began crashing on the cobbles, the terns began relocating to the sand islands along the lagoon’s beach edge, where the gulls and pelicans already loafed.  A small raft of Brown Pelicans was offshore just past the many surfers, while the slim Pelagic Cormorants surface-dived for fish near them.   Far offshore was a huge, uncounted, flock of pelicans plunge-diving.   Snowy Egrets and a Great Blue Heron patrolled the edges of the main lagoon.

The beach breach of a few weeks ago was quite obvious, with 3-6 ft. ‘cliffs’ of sand on each side. The longshore ocean current from the west has already caused the ocean end of the outlet channel to shift eastward about 50-75 yds.  No water flowed out, but the sand looked wet and I suspect that high tide could still flow into the lagoon, with the lagoon flowing back out until its level reached that of the beach.

Adamson House had an unusual number of hummingbirds, it seemed to me, most of them Allen’s and the rest Anna’s, as usual.   There was an adult male Hooded Oriole in the palms.   We counted up our checklist on the deck of the boathouse.   The inlet below us, so full a month ago, was dry, with a Killdeer (see below)wandering through.  Song Sparrows and Black Phoebes flitted about, while one of the world’s loudest Northern Mockingbirds sang from a nearby bush.

Crossing back over the highway bridge we saw the egret colony in the trees behind Starbuck’s: at least 16 birds, evenly split between Great and Snowy Egrets (not included in the count).  The remaining north channel reed bed was still intact, surrounded by yellow plastic tape.  Two American Coots were adding reeds to their nest at the edge of the reeds, while their orange-headed juvenile floated nearby.  Coots build their nests of floating vegetation, in this case, of reeds; as the dead reeds on the undersurface of the nest rot and become soggy, the birds must continually add fresh reeds at the top.  The young are able to swim almost immediately; it’s 7-8 weeks before they can fly.

Our next three field trips:   Malibu Lagoon, 22 July, 8:30 am;   Malibu Lagoon, 26 August, 8:30 am; Los Angeles River, 8 Sept., 8am.
Our next program: Tuesday, 2 October, 7:30 pm.   The usual reminders will be emailed from the blog.

NOTE: Our 10 a.m. Parent’s & Kids Birdwalk is canceled until the lagoon project is completed and the parking lot is again available.

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.

Comments on Bird List Below
Species Diversity:   No census was taken in June 2008, so June 2006 is included to keep the comparison at six years.   Of 72 total species appearing in June for 2006-12, no more than 62% of them appeared on any one count day, something to keep in mind if you wonder why what is there is much less than what could be there.  June 2012 gets the species low count of 37, 18% below 2011’s high of 45, and 4 species below average.   This is the same variance we had for May when 2010 was the low year.   I expect species diversity to continue to run lower than average while the project is underway.

Total Birds:   Species diversity was low, but total numbers of 863 was high, 2^nd only to 2008’s 897 total birds.  High numbers of Brown Pelican (340) and Elegant Tern (240) accounted for the higher than average numbers.
[Chuck Almdale]

Malibu Census	2006	2007	2009	2010	2011	2012
June 2006 – 2012	6/25	6/24	6/28	6/27	6/26	6/24
Temperature			66-74	65-75	68-72	70-76
Tide Lo/Hi Height	H +3.0	H +3.0	L +0.4	H +3.81	H +3.0	L +0.07	Ave.
Tide Time	0626	0626	0838	1139	0754	0714	Birds
Brant	1	1	1	11			2.3
Gadwall	3	14	15	4	5	2	7.2
Mallard	35	40	25	40	41	24	34.2
Red-brstd Merganser		1					0.2
Ruddy Duck		6		7			2.2
Pied-billed Grebe		4	2	2	3	4	2.5
Clark’s Grebe		1					0.2
Dble-crstd Cormorant	7	6	22	5	54	17	18.5
Pelagic Cormorant	1	1				3	0.8
Brown Pelican	19	239	71	205	28	340	150.3
Great Blue Heron	2	3	8	6	4	1	4.0
Great Egret	2	4	3	2	5		2.7
Snowy Egret	8	8	14	14	8	4	9.3
Little Blue Egret		1					0.2
Green Heron		3			1		0.7
Blk-crwnd N-Heron		5	3	6	1		2.5
Osprey			1		1		0.3
White-tailed Kite						1	0.2
Cooper’s Hawk		1	1				0.3
Red-shouldered Hawk					1		0.2
Red-tailed Hawk		1	1		2		0.7
Peregrine Falcon				1			0.2
American Coot	4	20	22	5	12	4	11.2
Blk-bellied Plover	6					15	3.5
Killdeer				2	5	1	1.3
Black Oystercatcher						1	0.2
Willet	19	3	3				4.2
Whimbrel			5			8	2.2
Western Sandpiper			1		2		0.5
Bonaparte’s Gull	1	2					0.5
Heermann’s Gull	24	16	48	17	15	44	27.3
Ring-billed Gull	15			7			3.7
Western Gull	153	380	72	61	68	84	136.3
California Gull			1		1		0.3
Least Tern	1						0.2
Caspian Tern	15		3	9	10	1	6.3
Forster’s Tern		4					0.7
Royal Tern	4	6		2	1	4	2.8
Elegant Tern	120	25	15	4		240	67.3
Black Skimmer				5	1		1.0
Rock Pigeon	8	4	6	4	4	3	4.8
Mourning Dove	2		4	4	5	1	2.7
Anna’s Hummingbird	1	1	2	2	1	3	1.7
Allen’s Hummingbird	2	1	4		1	8	2.7
Belted Kingfisher						1	0.2
Downy Woodpecker				1			0.2
Black Phoebe	6	2	15	2	10	5	6.7
Cassin’s Kingbird	1				1		0.3
Western Scrub-Jay					1		0.2
American Crow	6	6	12	4	4	4	6.0
Rough-wingd Swallow		4	6	6	1		2.8
Tree Swallow	6						1.0
Barn Swallow	16	30	8	40	25	4	20.5
Cliff Swallow	8	8	7	30	15	4	12.0
Oak Titmouse					1		0.2
Bushtit		9		4	8		3.5
Marsh Wren			1				0.2
Wrentit			1				0.2
Northern Mockingbird	6	3	2	2	3	6	3.7
European Starling	10	8	20	65	21	5	21.5
Common Yellowthroat	3	3	1	1		1	1.5
Spotted Towhee	2	2					0.7
California Towhee	1			1	4	1	1.2
Song Sparrow	8	4	6	3	3	6	5.0
Red-winged Blackbird	13		1	55			11.5
Great-tailed Grackle		3			3	2	1.3
Brwn-headed Cowbird		1	1	2	1		0.8
Hooded Oriole			4		1	1	1.0
Bullock’s Oriole				1		2	0.5
House Finch	8	5	6	4	14	8	7.5
Lesser Goldfinch			2		4		1.0
House Sparrow		8			2		1.7
Malibu Census	2006	2007	2009	2010	2011	2012
Totals by Type	6/25	6/24	6/28	6/27	6/26	6/24	Ave.
Waterfowl	39	62	41	62	46	26	46.0
Water Birds-Other	31	271	117	217	97	368	183.5
Herons, Egrets	12	24	28	28	19	5	19.3
Quail & Raptors	0	2	3	1	4	1	1.8
Shorebirds	25	3	9	2	7	25	11.8
Gulls & Terns	333	433	139	105	96	373	246.5
Doves	10	4	10	8	9	4	7.5
Other Non-Pass.	3	2	6	3	2	12	4.7
Passerines	94	96	93	220	122	49	112.3
Totals Birds	547	897	446	646	402	863	634
	2006	2007	2009	2010	2011	2012
Total Species	6/25	6/24	6/28	6/27	6/26	6/24	Ave.
Waterfowl	3	5	3	4	2	2	3.2
Water Birds-Other	4	6	4	4	4	5	4.5
Herons, Egrets	3	6	4	4	5	2	4.0
Quail & Raptors	0	2	3	1	3	1	1.7
Shorebirds	2	1	3	1	2	4	2.2
Gulls & Terns	8	6	5	7	6	5	6.2
Doves	2	1	2	2	2	2	1.8
Other Non-Pass.	2	2	2	2	2	3	2.2
Passerines	14	15	16	15	19	13	15.3
Totals Species	38	44	42	40	45	37	41