Malibu Lagoon Trip Report: 24 November, 2013

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The Lagoon that is our monthly bird walk site seems to have fully recovered its attractiveness to various coastal bird species after a year’s restoration. Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets and Great Blue Herons were lined up on a bank, waiting for some of the ample supply of small fish to swim by. The numbers of birds were heartening also, with all areas of the lagoon well-populated and a gull flock that must have numbered over 2,000 a few hundred meters off Surfrider Beach’s first point. (This is not included in our count since we were unable to ascertain species.)

We were also treated to a few unusual visitors: a Cackling Goose which fit to a T the Sibley Guide drawing of the Aleutian form Cackling Goose; a group of 1 male and 3 female or juvenile Redhead; a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher; plus a Townsend’s Warbler for the second month in a row. As we finished our count we were able to share our good results with visiting Supervisor Craig Sap of the Angeles District of State Parks, who was probably admiring his organization’s handiwork.  [Lucien Plauzoles]

The Redhead is not a common duck in the lagoon, as in SoCal they generally prefer fresh water. We’ve recorded their presence only 10 times since 1979, for a total of 25 birds, with 6 birds on 2/14/82 as the record.

Birds new for the season were: Cackling Goose, Redhead, Bufflehead, Horned Grebe, Osprey, Cooper’s Hawk, Boneparte’s Gull, and Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher.

Our next three scheduled field trips:  Butterbredt Spring Christmas Count 14 Dec 8:30am; Malibu Lagoon, 22 Dec, 8:30 & 10am; Carrizo Plain, 28 Dec, 6:45am.
Our next program:  Tuesday, 4 Feb., 7:30 pm. Urban Bobcats III, presented by Laurel Serieys.

NOTE: Our 10 a.m. Parent’s & Kids Birdwalk meets 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:   November total birds of 514 is 58% below the 6-year Nov. average, due primarily to the absence of gulls and terns which were offshore by the thousands but too distant to determine species. Sandpipers were also several hundred birds below 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%, Sep’13 +23%, Oct’13 +41%, Nov’13 -58%.
Species Diversity:  November 2013 with 58 species was slightly below (-3%) the 6-year average of 60.
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%, Sep’13 -14%, Oct’13 +19%, Nov’13 -3%.
10-year comparison summaries are available on our Lagoon Project Bird Census Page.   [Chuck Almdale]

Malibu Census	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
November 2008-13	11/23	11/22	11/28	11/27	11/25	11/24
Temperature	50-61	60-72	55-65	68-72	60-62	62-70
Tide Lo/Hi Height	H+5.8	H+4.6	L+2.59	H+6.63	H+5.83	L+3.14	Ave.
Tide Time	0608	1137	0842	0945	0647	0741	Birds
Snow Goose					1		0.2
Brant					1		0.2
Cackling Goose						1	0.2
Canada Goose				9			1.5
Gadwall	35	7	6	4	12	19	13.8
American Wigeon	15	6	14	15	9	4	10.5
Mallard	22	15	18	30	18	12	19.2
Northern Shoveler	12	5	10	10	18	8	10.5
Green-winged Teal		6	7	4	3		3.3
Redhead						4	0.7
Lesser Scaup	8		1				1.5
Surf Scoter	24		15				6.5
Bufflehead	8	5	6	8	3	3	5.5
Red-brstd Merganser	2	1	5	9	7	11	5.8
Ruddy Duck	25	20	26	3	48	20	23.7
Red-throated Loon					7		1.2
Pacific Loon	1		1		10		2.0
Common Loon	1	1	1				0.5
Pied-billed Grebe	6	5	2	1	4	1	3.2
Horned Grebe			1			1	0.3
Red-necked Grebe	1						0.2
Eared Grebe			6	6	4	3	3.2
Western Grebe	20	15	16	6	27	2	14.3
Brandt’s Cormorant	10	2		2	6		3.3
Dble-crstd Cormorant	25	29	37	31	24	18	27.3
Pelagic Cormorant	1	1	1		1	1	0.8
Brown Pelican	18	12	40	8	32	20	21.7
Great Blue Heron	6	3	7	2	2	2	3.7
Great Egret	1	1	4	3	1	8	3.0
Snowy Egret	4	8	31	30	10	20	17.2
Cattle Egret				1			0.2
Green Heron			1				0.2
Blk-crwnd N-Heron	5	1	8		1	2	2.8
Osprey			1			1	0.3
Cooper’s Hawk	1				1	1	0.5
Red-tailed Hawk		2	1			2	0.8
American Kestrel			1	1			0.3
Merlin		1					0.2
Virginia Rail		1	1	1			0.5
Sora	2	6	7	3			3.0
American Coot	85	295	206	57	194	80	152.8
Blk-bellied Plover	24	89	110	263	217	44	124.5
Snowy Plover	54	48	58	52	61	33	51.0
Killdeer	4	3	5	5	11	3	5.2
Spotted Sandpiper	1	2	2	2	2	2	1.8
Willet	12	18	2	4	34	20	15.0
Whimbrel	3	5	2		1	12	3.8
Marbled Godwit	8	14			31	4	9.5
Ruddy Turnstone	32	13	13	1	5	2	11.0
Black Turnstone	8		1				1.5
Sanderling	58	155	290	308	11		137.0
Least Sandpiper	1		7	15	21	4	8.0
Boneparte’s Gull	2		5		1	3	1.8
Heermann’s Gull	35	13	37		21	2	18.0
Mew Gull			1				0.2
Ring-billed Gull	18	50	800	60	25	20	162.2
Western Gull	68	67	130	50	55		61.7
California Gull	63	58	500	30	215	2	144.7
Herring Gull	1	1					0.3
Glaucous-wingd Gull			1	1	1		0.5
Forster’s Tern	2		5	2	14	1	4.0
Royal Tern	2		2		3		1.2
Elegant Tern		1				1	0.3
Rock Pigeon	5	6	6		38		9.2
Mourning Dove	6	3	2				1.8
Anna’s Hummingbird		4	3	2	1		1.7
Allen’s Hummingbird	1	2	1		3	1	1.3
Belted Kingfisher	2	1	1	1	1	1	1.2
Black Phoebe	6	6	6	5	5	4	5.3
Say’s Phoebe	1	1	1		2	1	1.0
Western Scrub-Jay					1		0.2
American Crow	6	6	3	4	5	2	4.3
Common Raven			1				0.2
Tree Swallow	1				1		0.3
Bushtit	22	40		30	30		20.3
Bewick’s Wren		1		1		1	0.5
House Wren	1		2				0.5
Marsh Wren	1	1	1				0.5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher						1	0.2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet					1	1	0.3
Northern Mockingbird	1	1	1	1	2	3	1.5
European Starling	5	6		40		7	9.7
Ornge-crwnd Warbler					3		0.5
Yellow-rumpd Warbler	12	6	8	2	12	60	16.7
Townsend’s Warbler						1	0.2
Common Yellowthroat	4	5	5	4	3	2	3.8
California Towhee		2				2	0.7
Song Sparrow	2	4	2	3	4		2.5
White-crwnd Sparrow		4		8		15	4.5
Western Meadowlark						3	0.5
Great-tailed Grackle		3	1	4	7	4	3.2
House Finch	5	6	4	30	5	2	8.7
Lesser Goldfinch			2	2	3	6	2.2
Totals by Type	11/23	11/22	11/28	11/27	11/25	11/25	Ave.
Waterfowl	151	65	108	92	120	82	103
Water Birds-Other	170	367	319	115	309	126	234
Herons, Egrets	16	13	51	36	14	32	27
Raptors	1	3	3	1	1	4	2
Shorebirds	205	347	490	650	394	124	368
Gulls & Terns	191	190	1481	143	335	29	395
Doves	11	9	8	0	38	0	11
Other Non-Pass.	3	7	5	3	5	2	4
Passerines	67	92	37	134	84	115	88
Totals Birds	815	1093	2502	1174	1300	514	1233
	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Total Species	11/23	11/22	11/28	11/27	11/25	11/25	Ave.
Waterfowl	9	8	10	9	10	9	9.2
Water Birds-Other	11	10	12	9	10	8	10.0
Herons, Egrets	4	4	5	4	4	4	4.2
Raptors	1	2	3	1	1	3	1.8
Shorebirds	11	9	10	8	10	9	9.5
Gulls & Terns	8	6	9	5	8	6	7.0
Doves	2	2	2	0	1	0	1.2
Other Non-Pass.	2	3	3	2	3	2	2.5
Passerines	13	15	13	13	15	17	14.3
Totals Species – 93	61	59	67	51	62	58	59.7