Malibu Lagoon Trip Report: 25 August, 2013

After several decades of arguing, nearly to the point of fisticuffs, SMBAS birders have almost sorted out the differences between Elegant and Royal Terns. A few questions, a short run-through of differences, we move on, and only a few low grumbled invectives in the background. One down, 42 I.D. problems to go. This time it was a falcon.

Foggy lagoon morning (C. Bragg 8/25/13)

I always hope that Cindy is around to make these pesky raptor calls. I don’t consider myself an expert on much of anything, let alone underside views of lone raptors disappearing into the fog.

I spotted it first, when it was lowest and closest. Pointed wings said ‘falcon’: it looked fluttery and small, almost kestrel-like, but not quite. My “falcon!” call” alerted the group to the bird’s presence, and I continued watching for any definitive ID sign. It lacked the underside patterning or the “sideburns” a kestrel should have, nor were it’s axillaries (“armpits”) Prairie Falcon dark, so I announced, “I think it’s a Merlin,” in my default “that’s-what-I-think-but-I’m-not-putting-any-money-on-it” manner. I continued to watch its head as the bird circled, rose and eventually disappeared into the fog; I felt I saw it well enough to see signs of a dark “hood” or thick “sideburn” were they present. I saw neither.  [I ought to mention that I use 10X stabilizing binoculars, so I often see things as well as others do using a 20X telescope. They don’t make me a great birder – just better than I would otherwise be.]

Merlin momentarily resting (L.Johnson Malibu Lagoon 11/09)

Meanwhile, cutting through the background chatter, another voice had announced several times, “It’s a Peregrine!” . [Birders, utterly engrossed in the process of finding and watching a bird, temporarily oblivious to their immediate surroundings, frequently cry out, “Where is it? What is it? What is it?”, while others are equally busy saying where and what it is.]

After the bird flew out of sight, while some were still asking, “What did we decide it was?”, I located the person who, to my ears, seemed confident it was a Peregrine, and asked, “Why do you think it was a Peregrine?” As I said, lone birds in the fog are not my strong suit. The reply was something like, ‘I work with raptors and their recovery, so I’m familiar with them.’  I had been hoping for details of the bird, not of the person, and I repeated my question. “It was big;” possibly ‘strong flight’ was mentioned – I now forget. “Well, that’s weird, because it seemed both small and a bit fluttery to me,” I replied. A skeptic, I hold the ability of humans – including myself – to judge either size or distance of a bird, especially a lone bird, poor, at best.

So there it is, for what it’s worth. I could not see any Peregrine head pattern on the bird, I don’t trust anyone’s size or distance impressions, the bird mostly soared, it ‘fluttered’ only at the very start when fairly low (perhaps it was just taking off). My 35 years of Malibu sightings yield the following August records: Merlin-1, Peregrine-0. Not much to choose from. I put it in the checklist as a Merlin.

In other late-breaking news, there were 35 Snowy Plovers near the east end of the enclosure, no banded birds were seen. If there were any big feeding flocks offshore, it was too foggy to see them.

Elegant Terns (L. Johnson 8/25/13)

Other new birds for the season were: Western Sandpiper; Forster’s Tern; Western Wood-Pewee; Western Kingbird; Rough-winged Swallow; House Wren; Orange-crowned, Yellow-rumped & Wilson’s Warblers; Lincoln’s Sparrow.

The lithic spires of a vast underground cyclopean city emerge from Surfrider Beach as oblivious birders scan the cormorant-covered rocks offshore (C. Bragg 8/25/13)

The Sierra Club Trail Crew volunteers were kind enough to come a second month to pull weeds. I had hoped a few SMBAS members would be there, but it was only Jim Kenney and myself to join the very vigorous weeders. We spent about 3 1/2 hours pulling tobacco, fennel, pepperweed and excess willows from the driveway circle, and thinning out the nearby mulefat. If one could train goats to be very selective in their dining choices, it would be wonderful. Until then, humans must do the work. Many thanks to the Trail Crew.

Sierra Club Trail Crew at work (C. Almdale 8/24/13)

Our next three scheduled field trips:   Malibu Lagoon Coastal Cleanup, Sat. 21 Sep, 9am; Malibu Lagoon, Sun. 22 Sept, 8:30 & 10am; Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Sat. 12 Oct, 8:30am.
Our next program:  Tuesday, 1 Oct., 7:30 pm. Peru, presented by Mary Deutsch.

NOTE: Our 10 a.m. Parent’s & Kids Birdwalks meet at the shaded viewing area.

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:   August total birds of 1154 are 37% above the 6-year average, an improvement from the Jan-Jun’13 period; pelican numbers rebounded; Black-bellied Plovers, Elegant Terns and Bushtits were well above average.
Summary of total birds from the 6-year average so far:  Jun’12 +36%, Jul’12 -9%, Aug’12 -9%, Sep’12 +12%, Oct’12 +3%, Nov’12 -5%, Dec’12 +30%, Jan’13 -20%, Feb’13 -29%, Mar’13 -30%, Apr’13 -34%, May’13 -37%, Jun’13 -24%, Jul’13 +83%, Aug’13 +37%.
Species Diversity:  August 2013 with 61 species was moderately above the 6-year average of 55.
Summary of species diversity from the 6-year average so far:  Jun’12 -10%, Jul’12 +10%, Aug’12. -6%, Sep’12 -20%, Oct’12 +5%, Nov’12 +2%, Dec’12 -4%, Jan’13 +2%, Feb’13 -8%, Mar’13 +9%, Apr’13 -2%, May’13 +3%, Jun’13 +13%, Jul’13 0%, Aug’13 +11%.
10-year comparison summaries are available on our Lagoon Project Bird Census Page.    [Chuck Almdale]