Special Birds at Malibu Lagoon, October 23, 2016

Clouds between showers (Chris Tosdevin 10-23-16)

Rain sprinkled the lagoon before and after the walk, but during it we were fine. Cloudy and cool – a nice change from last month’s mind-boggling sun-baked sweat bath. Avian species and numbers continue to climb as we approach winter; check the list below for seasonal additions. Gull and pelican numbers still seem below typical. Royal and Elegant Terns were present on the low-tide rocks, with a few Forster’s Terns flying past.

Royal Tern (Joyce Waterman 10-23-16)

The Brant continues – present eight of the last nine months. The plumage was brighter than last month (compare photo); it must have gone through a molt, or else it’s a different individual. It’s now quite lovely. But we had several other major events.

Brant looks quite regal (Randy Ehler 10-23-16)

The first was the appearance of both Western and Clark’s Grebes in the western channel – ten of the first and two of the latter. Westerns are nearly always present – usually offshore – from October into April. But Clark’s are quite uncommon near the brackish lagoon and salty ocean, and in SoCal they’re far easier to find on inland reservoirs in the San Gabriel Valley. In 323 visits over the past 37 years, we’ve seen then only eleven times, most recently on 4/28/13. It gave us a great opportunity to compare these two closely-related and similar species, looking primarily at bill color, the amount of white around the eye, and paleness of the flanks.

Western (L) & Clark’s Grebes (R) (J. Waterman 10-23-16)

Earlier returnees from the beach alerted us to an odd plover – perhaps one of the golden plover species. It was definitely golden-red, but turned out to be a Mountain Plover. This species can be difficult to find in L.A. County, and is

Three faces of the Mountain Plover (Joyce Waterman 10-23-16)

normally seen only in winter on certain pastures in the Antelope Valley east of Lancaster. To find one on the beach is ludicrous, but there it was. Perhaps not too surprising, it was on the barren and nearly vegetation-free sand flat next to the lagoon, habitat little different from where we often find them – barren pastures or unvegetated flats – except of course for the presence of the nearby lagoon and vast Pacific Ocean. This was a first for the lagoon and perhaps for coastal L.A. County as well.

Mountain Plover and Snowy Plover for Comparison
(R. Ehler, K. Wahlquist & J. Waterman 10-23-16)

Chris Lord found 29 Snowy Plovers, making sure to not include any of the numerous Sanderlings who had scattered themselves among the Snowies. He and I found banded bird AA:BL; earlier Lu Plauzoles found banded bird RR:BB. Counting Snowies is tricky when beachwalkers find it amusing to persistantly walk through the roosting flock.

Sanderlings (R. Ehler & J. Waterman 10-23-16)

A Merlin was reported by several birders. October is their favorite month for visiting the lagoon, followed by March.

Whimbrel and Ruddy Turnstone (J. Waterman 10-23-16)

Our last bonus bird was spotted back near the parking lagoon, at the edge of the reeds just below our meeting place. A Sora! I had been scrutinizing the reed beds

Sora emerges from the reeds (J. Waterman & R. Ehler 10-23-16)

throughout the walk, but saw no rustling of reeds and no Sora. Sora had been (most likely) resident at the lagoon, with a high count of seven on 11-28-10.  The 2012

Nanday Conure, down from the local canyons (Randy Ehler 10-23-16)

lagoon reconfiguration eliminated the extensive reed beds, and Sora (as well as Virginia Rail) went elsewhere for their winters. They reappeared in Nov-Dec 2015, indicating that the reeds had grown back sufficiently for them to at least stop by and investigate. Reeds are still scanty and scattered, and I doubt they’ll become resident within the next few years. We’ll keep our eyes open.

Birds new for the season were: Ruddy Duck, Eared Grebe, Western & Clark’s Grebes, Sora, Mountain Plover, Mew & Herring Gulls, Merlin, Nanday Parakeet, House Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, Yellow-rumped Warbler.

As always, many thanks to our photographers: Randy Ehler, Chris Tosdevin, Kirsten Wahlquist and Joyce Waterman.

White-crowned Sparrow
(Randy Ehler 10-23-16)

Our next three scheduled field trips:  Butterbredt Springs Holloween Campout, 29-30 Oct 8:30am; Ballona Creek, 19 Nov 8:30am. Malibu Lagoon 8:30 & 10am, 27 Oct.

Our next program: The Naming of Birds with Tom Hinnebusch, linguist extraordinaire, Tuesday, 1 Nov, 7:30 pm; Chris Reed Park, 1133 7th St., NE corner of 7th and Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica.

NOTE: Our 10 a.m. Parent’s & Kids Birdwalk meets at the shaded viewpoint just south of the parking area. Watch for Willie the Weasel. He’ll be watching for you and your big floppy feet.

Female Red-winged Blackbird skulks in the reeds
(J. Waterman 10-23-16)

Links: Unusual birds at Malibu Lagoon
9/23/02 Aerial photo of Malibu Lagoon
Prior checklists:
2016:   Jan-June                          2015:   Jan-May,    July-Dec
2014:   Jan-July,    July-Dec     2013:   Jan-June,   July-Dec
2012:   Jan-June,   July-Dec    2011:   Jan-June,   July-Dec
2010:  Jan-June,   July-Dec     2009:  Jan-June,   July-Dec

Great Blue Heron aloft (J. Waterman 10-23-16)

The 10-year comparison summaries created during the project period, despite numerous complaints, remain available on our Lagoon Project Bird Census Page. Very briefly summarized, the results unexpectedly indicate that avian species diversification and numbers improved slightly during the period Jun’12-June’14.     [Chuck Almdale]