Malibu Lagoon Trip Report: 25 November, 2012

Don’t forget to visit our page devoted to the Malibu Lagoon 2012 Project, frequently updated with new photos. We recently added a new interview with Suzanne Goode, Also look for the link to the plant revegetation list.

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Foggy and cool. We could barely see across the lagoon and by noon the temperature had climbed all the way from 60° to 62°. The photos tell the tale.

Surf was so flat that only 2 surfers and 2 kayaks bothered to show. The birds were good though, and we almost had the beach to ourselves. The Revegetation continues, the grading appears complete and the channel is fully open to the lagoon. The paths, swale and various structures are still under construction. The path to the beach – like the proverbial path to heaven – is “strait and narrow.”  Walking it is reminiscent of a trip to the funhouse.

Migrants continue to arrive, including: Snow Goose, Brant, Green-winged Teal, Bufflehead, Red-throated & Pacific Loons, Cooper’s Hawk, Boneparte’s Gull, and a Tree Swallow (a late migrant). We didn’t see any of last month’s Horned & Clark’s Grebes, Black Turnstone or Dunlin. The Red-tailed Hawk was probably snoozing, waiting for the sun to appear.

Snowy Plover PV:YB (bird’s left leg Pink above Violet: right leg Yellow above Blue), present on Surfrider Beach since Sept., was joined by his comrade-in-wings GG:AR (green/green:aqua/red), who was with us last December & January (and probably longer). The total Snowy Plover of 61 is an all-time high for November.

Our next three field trips:   Carrizo Plains, 8 Dec., 9:00am; Butterbredt Christmas Count, 15 Dec., 8:00am., Malibu Lagoon, 23 Dec, 8:30am.
Our next program:  Tuesday, 4 December, 7:30 pm.   Anticoagulant Poisons and So. Californian Bobcats – Laurel Klein Serieys.   The usual reminders will be emailed from the blog.

NOTE: Our 10 a.m. Parent’s & Kids Birdwalk remains canceled until the parking lot is again fully 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 Lists Below
Total Birds:   Nov. total birds of 1300 are 5% below average (Oct was up 3%), an insignificant amount.  Brown Pelican numbers are finally average after being down since July. Willets and Marbled Godwits were well above average, but Sanderlings were nearly absent. European Starlings and Red-winged Blackbirds either decided to sleep in or we just couldn’t see them through the fog. Monthly total bird numbers have been up & down, up & down since the project began last June.
Species Diversity:   Of 96 total species appearing in November for 2007-12, no more than about 5/8ths of them appear on any single day. October 2012 with 62 species was average, as were all 9 categories of birds.
Summary of species diversity from the 6-year average so far:  May +4%, June -10%, July +10%, Aug. -6%, Sep. -20%, Oct. +5%, Nov +2%. Still, the only constant is change.     [Chuck Almdale]

Malibu Census	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
November 2007-12	11/25	11/23	11/22	11/28	11/27	11/25
Temperature			60-72	55-65	70	60-62
Tide Lo/Hi Height	H +7.2	H +5.8	H +4.6	L +2.59	H +6.63	H +5.83	Ave.
Tide Time	0839	0608	1137	0842	0945	0647	Birds
Snow Goose						1	0.2
Brant						1	0.2
Canada Goose					9		1.5
Gadwall	10	35	7	6	4	12	12.3
American Wigeon	2	15	6	14	15	9	10.2
Mallard	30	22	15	18	30	18	22.2
Northern Shoveler	16	12	5	10	10	18	11.8
Green-winged Teal	4		6	7	4	3	4.0
Lesser Scaup		8		1			1.5
Surf Scoter	2	24		15			6.8
Bufflehead		8	5	6	8	3	5.0
Red-brstd Merganser	3	2	1	5	9	7	4.5
Ruddy Duck	4	25	20	26	3	48	21.0
Red-throated Loon						7	1.2
Pacific Loon		1		1		10	2.0
Common Loon		1	1	1			0.5
Pied-billed Grebe	10	6	5	2	1	4	4.7
Horned Grebe				1			0.2
Red-necked Grebe		1					0.2
Eared Grebe	2			6	6	4	3.0
Western Grebe	8	20	15	16	6	27	15.3
Brandt’s Cormorant		10	2		2	6	3.3
Dble-crstd Cormorant	13	25	29	37	31	24	26.5
Pelagic Cormorant	1	1	1	1		1	0.8
Brown Pelican	92	18	12	40	8	32	33.7
Great Blue Heron	5	6	3	7	2	2	4.2
Great Egret	4	1	1	4	3	1	2.3
Snowy Egret	15	4	8	31	30	10	16.3
Cattle Egret					1		0.2
Green Heron				1			0.2
Blk-crwnd N-Heron	4	5	1	8		1	3.2
Osprey				1			0.2
Cooper’s Hawk		1				1	0.3
Red-shouldered Hawk	1						0.2
Red-tailed Hawk	2		2	1			0.8
American Kestrel				1	1		0.3
Merlin			1				0.2
Peregrine Falcon	1						0.2
Virginia Rail			1	1	1		0.5
Sora		2	6	7	3		3.0
American Coot	320	85	295	206	57	194	192.8
Blk-bellied Plover	39	24	89	110	263	217	123.7
Snowy Plover	3	54	48	58	52	61	46.0
Killdeer	9	4	3	5	5	11	6.2
Spotted Sandpiper	2	1	2	2	2	2	1.8
Greater Yellowlegs	1						0.2
Willet	11	12	18	2	4	34	13.5
Whimbrel		3	5	2		1	1.8
Marbled Godwit	4	8	14			31	9.5
Ruddy Turnstone	3	32	13	13	1	5	11.2
Black Turnstone	1	8		1			1.7
Sanderling	60	58	155	290	308	11	147.0
Least Sandpiper		1		7	15	21	7.3
Boneparte’s Gull	1	2		5		1	1.5
Heermann’s Gull	52	35	13	37		21	26.3
Mew Gull				1			0.2
Ring-billed Gull	42	18	50	800	60	25	165.8
Western Gull	150	68	67	130	50	55	86.7
California Gull	95	63	58	500	30	215	160.2
Herring Gull	1	1	1				0.5
Glaucous-wingd Gull				1	1	1	0.5
Forster’s Tern		2		5	2	14	3.8
Royal Tern	1	2		2		3	1.3
Elegant Tern			1				0.2
Rock Pigeon	6	5	6	6		38	10.2
Mourning Dove	2	6	3	2			2.2
Anna’s Hummingbird	4		4	3	2	1	2.3
Allen’s Hummingbird	5	1	2	1		3	2.0
Belted Kingfisher	1	2	1	1	1	1	1.2
Black Phoebe	6	6	6	6	5	5	5.7
Say’s Phoebe	2	1	1	1		2	1.2
Western Scrub-Jay						1	0.2
American Crow	2	6	6	3	4	5	4.3
Common Raven				1			0.2
Tree Swallow		1				1	0.3
Bushtit	40	22	40		30	30	27.0
Bewick’s Wren			1		1		0.3
House Wren		1		2			0.5
Marsh Wren		1	1	1			0.5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet						1	0.2
Northern Mockingbird	3	1	1	1	1	2	1.5
European Starling	125	5	6		40		29.3
Ornge-crwnd Warbler	1					3	0.7
Yellow-rumpd Warbler	10	12	6	8	2	12	8.3
Common Yellowthroat	4	4	5	5	4	3	4.2
Spotted Towhee	1						0.2
California Towhee	5		2				1.2
Song Sparrow	5	2	4	2	3	4	3.3
Lincoln’s Sparrow	3						0.5
White-crwnd Sparrow	18		4		8		5.0
Red-winged Blackbird	2						0.3
Western Meadowlark	1						0.2
Brewer’s Blackbird	6						1.0
Great-tailed Grackle	4		3	1	4	7	3.2
House Finch		5	6	4	30	5	8.3
Lesser Goldfinch	4			2	2	3	1.8
Totals by Type	11/25	11/23	11/22	11/28	11/27	11/25	Ave.
Waterfowl	71	151	65	108	92	120	101
Water Birds-Other	446	170	367	319	115	309	288
Herons, Egrets	28	16	13	51	36	14	26
Raptors	4	1	3	3	1	1	2
Shorebirds	133	205	347	490	650	394	370
Gulls & Terns	342	191	190	1481	143	335	447
Doves	8	11	9	8	0	38	12
Other Non-Pass.	10	3	7	5	3	5	6
Passerines	242	67	92	37	134	84	109
Totals Birds	1284	815	1093	2502	1174	1300	1361
Total Species	11/25	11/23	11/22	11/28	11/27	11/25	Ave.
Waterfowl	8	9	8	10	9	10	9.0
Water Birds-Other	7	11	10	12	9	10	9.8
Herons, Egrets	4	4	4	5	4	4	4.2
Raptors	3	1	2	3	1	1	1.8
Shorebirds	10	11	9	10	8	10	9.7
Gulls & Terns	7	8	6	9	5	8	7.2
Doves	2	2	2	2	0	1	1.5
Other Non-Pass.	3	2	3	3	2	3	2.7
Passerines	19	13	15	13	13	15	14.7
Totals Species	63	61	59	67	51	62	60.5