Interesting events at Malibu Lagoon: 21 October, 2020

Small, controlled field trips in open spaces still seem feasible.
We had ten people this time.

[By Chuck Almdale]

Malibu beach-birder-lagoon-pier (R. Juncosa 10-21-20)

We had ten masked and equidistant birders this time, including Mary Prismon and daughter Roxie, neither of whom we’d seen in at least six months. The lagoon breach had closed up and water was quite high, reaching about 6 ½ ft. on the tidal clock sidewalk. (It’s hard to be certain as the marker tiles are covered by dirt and plants.) Temperatures were good – 64 to 68° – a semi-sunny day, no breeze at all and the waves were middlin’ to good and dotted with surfers. A nice day.

Inundated tidal clock sidewalk (L Johnson 10-21-20)

Despite all the water, there were surprisingly few ducks, although there were over 100 coots. Seventeen ducks, nine of which were Ruddy Duck, which is very unusual. Not even a Mallard! The White Wagtail which had been present on 5 October when the low water left a sandy rim around lagoon and channel, was gone.

[Later note: Jimy Tallal send in a note on 11/3/20 that all the Mallards and a lot of egrets were across PCH at Legacy Park on Civic Center Way. That’s also where Chris Tosdevin saw the immature Yellow-crowned Night-Heron.]

Vermilion Flycatcher (C. Tosdevin 10-19-20)

But it was replaced by another rarity for the lagoon – a Vermilion Flycatcher. The bird had been there for at least two days, as Chris Tosdevin photographed it on the 19^th. This was the first sighting at the lagoon for him and for all of us, and was a life bird for one of our group. It looked like a first year male as the vermilion on the center of the breast was incomplete. This bird’s breeding range extends from SoCal (Morongo Valley) to central Texas and south all the way to Argentina, but the birds that winter along the SoCal coast must come from nearby. He was madly flying and flitting and flycatching all over the west end of the channel, making the taking of photographs quite a challenge.

Left – Vermilion Flycatcher (C. Tosdevin 10-19-20)
Right – Vermilion Flycatcher U.S. Range | BirdFellow_com

Common Yellowthroat male at home (R. Juncosa 10-21-20)

We beat our way along the path to the beach, but other than several large bands of Bushtits, there weren’t many birds. Yellow-rumped Warblers were scattered in ones and twos, the Common Yellowthroats were in bushes and reeds around the edges of the channels, and the two Orange-crowned Warblers were gleaning tiny ants – Argentinian, I suppose – from leafy bushes.

Yellow-rumped Warbler (R. Juncosa 10-21-20)

The eminently surfable waves were washing over the offshore rocks, so no birds there, but several Pelagic Cormorants dove and swam in the surf zone, looking like snake birds. Far offshore a loon flew by. It looked like a Red-throated, slender, with head and tail lower than back and mostly pale underneath, although October is a bit early for them.

Cormorants & Egret in a reflective mood (R. Juncosa 10-21-20)

Several groups of Sanderlings, totaling 75 birds, ran back and forth with the lapping waves. Ray commented that they were feeding only on the wet sand. As the water retreated, they’d run down to the wettest portion they could reach, quickly poke around, then run back up to avoid getting knocked down by the next incoming wavelet. Here’s what Terres’ Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds says about this behavior:

Sanderling scatter to avoid a wave (C. Bragg 10-21-20)

…on wet beaches of coasts, probes vigorously with partly opened bill, making series of small holes in straight or curving lines to catch minute crustaceans (beach “fleas,” hippa crabs, shrimps, etc.), also eats small mollusks (mussels, for example), marine worms (Bent, 1927)…

Sanderling on foam (R. Juncosa 10-21-20)

I’ve never heard of a “hippa crab,” so I looked them up. They’re crustaceans, ten-legged (order: Decapoda), known as Sand Crabs (family Hippidae), and they fall into three genera Emerita, Hippa and Mastigochirus. At this point, confusion takes over. Around here, it may be the Pacific Mole Crab (Hippa pacifica), or it may be the Pacific Mole Crab (Emerita analoga). [Not a typo]. Or these two may be the exact same animal. Wikipedia on Hippa says Hippa “is closely related to the genus Emerita, and species have often been transferred between the two genera.” Wikipedia on  Emerita says ” the related genus Hippa is found across the Indo-Pacific, including Australia.” So it’s Emerita analoga (I concluded) who live in our SoCal “swash zones,” the area of the sandy beach constantly washed over by incoming waves.  This site says Emerita analoga ranges from Baja’s Magdalena Bay to Alaska, and grow to 1.4” long and 1” wide.  

Female Pacific Mole Crab Emerita analoga (Wikipedia)

It turned out I’ve caught-and-released many of these creatures. It’s easy and fun and they wriggle in your hands, trying to burrow backwards between your fingers to hide, just as they do in the wave-washed sand. Unfortunately for them, it’s also easy for gulls, sandpipers and surf fishermen to catch them, only they don’t “release.”

Link to a very nice PBS Deep Look film on Pacific Mole Crabs and some discussion.
Link to an autobiography by a Pacific Mole (or Sand) Crab.

Beach, waves & pier (L. Johnson 10-21-20)

Sanderlings are only 8” long and there’s no way (on God’s Green Earth!!) they’ll be swallowing a 1.4” x 1” crab. Whatever they were catching was invisible to our naked human eyes. My guess is that they were catching really really small crabs – crabs have to start really really small, before they reach 1.4” long, right? – or eggs; perhaps mole crab eggs, perhaps grunion eggs, perhaps any number of invertebrate eggs. I have seen Marbled Godwits and Whimbrels snagging the larger 1.4” Mole Crabs from the “swash zone.”  I welcome enlightenment from any of our readers on what they might have been eating.

Ray photographs the sandpipers (L. Johnson 10-21-20)

That mystery now unsolved, we wandered over to the lagoon edge where the sandpipers and plovers, such as they were, were spread out along the water’s edge. Leaving out the 75 Sanderlings in the swash zone, of the 154 sandpipers and plovers, 91 were Black-bellied Plover, 42 were Snowy Plover, and the few remaining birds were in five species. They were mostly snoozing, or trying to snooze. About 10 of the 42 Snowy Plovers were busily running around; the rest sat in their little dimples in the sand, soaking up the sun. I saw no banded birds.

Snowy Plover (R. Juncosa 10-21-20)

The Ruddy Turnstones and the other plovers and ‘pipers were all well into their winter (or basic) plumages.

Ruddy Turnstone steps lightly (R. Juncosa 10-21-20)

Birds new for the season: Surf Scoter, Ruddy Duck, Eared Grebe, Anna’s Hummingbird, Red-throated Loon, Vermilion Flycatcher, White-crowned Sparrow, Yellow-rumped Warbler.

South channel to lagoon (L. Johnson 10-21-20)

Birds new for the season: Northern Pintail, Vaux’s Swift, Marbled Godwit, Sanderling, Spotted Sandpiper, Say’s Phoebe, Loggerhead Shrike, Marsh Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Lesser Goldfinch, Lawrence’s Goldfinch, California Towhee, Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow Warbler.

Many thanks to photographers: Chuck Bragg, Lillian Johnson, Ray Juncosa, and Chris Tosdevin.

The next three SMBAS scheduled field trips: Who knows? Not I.
The next SMBAS program: November 3, Seaweed Faceoff! with Lauren Smith, on ZOOM, 7:30 PM.
The SMBAS 10 a.m. Parent’s & Kids Birdwalk is canceled until further notice due to the near-impossibility of maintained proper masked social distancing with parents and small children.

Links: Unusual birds at Malibu Lagoon
9/23/02 Aerial photo of Malibu Lagoon

Prior checklists:
2019: Jan-June, July-Dec  2020: Jan-July,    
2018: Jan-June, July-Dec  2017: Jan-June, July-Dec
2016: Jan-June, July-Dec  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.

The 10-year comparison summaries created during the Lagoon Reconfiguration 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 restoration period June’12-June’14.
[Chuck Almdale]

Malibu Census 2020	5/22	6/25	7/22	8/26	9/24	10/21
Temperature	68-73	64-70	60-66	70-77	66-77	64-68
Tide Lo/Hi Height	H+3.53	L-0.52	L+0.71	L+2.52	L+3.05	L+2.70
Tide Time	1031	0733	0819	0958	1004	0634
Canada Goose	14	8	8
Gadwall	34	31	40	5	2	2
American Wigeon						3
Mallard	12	23	27	16	14
Northern Pintail					2
Green-winged Teal				1
Surf Scoter						3
Ruddy Duck						9
Pied-billed Grebe			3	3	2	2
Eared Grebe						1
Western Grebe	1
Rock Pigeon		7	10	4	6	10
Mourning Dove		4	3	5	4	2
Vaux’s Swift					8
Anna’s Hummingbird			1			1
Allen’s Hummingbird	4	3	3		1	1
American Coot	4		2		48	118
Black-bellied Plover	14	10	15	66	102	91
Snowy Plover			8	26	27	42
Semipalmated Plover				4	8
Killdeer	2	6	2	7	12	1
Whimbrel	18	5	15	14	1	3
Marbled Godwit	4	1			3	5
Ruddy Turnstone			2	2	1	6
Sanderling					39	75
Least Sandpiper			2	21	12
Western Sandpiper		2	1	8	1
Short-billed Dowitcher				2
Long-billed Dowitcher			4
Spotted Sandpiper					2	1
Wandering Tattler			1
Willet	1	6	8	47	40	5
Heermann’s Gull	4	9	65	10	14
Western Gull	210	120	90	98	90	21
California Gull			4	17	12	1
Glaucous-winged Gull	3
Least Tern	2			2
Caspian Tern	60	15	4	1
Forster’s Tern				4
Royal Tern	55			11	12
Elegant Tern			195	221	1
Red-throated Loon						1
Brandt’s Cormorant		1
Double-crested Cormorant	14	15	16	18	43	16
Pelagic Cormorant		1		1	1	3
Brown Pelican	94	30	19	8	5	5
Great Blue Heron		3	2	4	3	3
Great Egret		1	3	4	20	1
Snowy Egret	3	2	8	4	2	5
Black-crowned Night-Heron	1			2
Osprey	1			1		1
Cooper’s Hawk	1
Belted Kingfisher				1	2
Black Phoebe		1	5	5	4	5
Say’s Phoebe					1	2
Vermilion Flycatcher						1
Loggerhead Shrike					1
California Scrub-Jay			1	1	2
American Crow	2	2	4	3	3	4
Rough-winged Swallow				1
Cliff Swallow		1
Barn Swallow	10	18	22	20
Bushtit	6	22	16	50	16	75
House Wren				1		2
Marsh Wren					5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher					5	2
Wrentit			1		1
Western Bluebird				4
Northern Mockingbird	2	2	2	1		2
European Starling	9	60	12	27	2	5
House Finch	16	24	5	4	8	4
Lesser Goldfinch					2	2
Lawrence’s Goldfinch					15
California Towhee	1				1	1
Song Sparrow	12	3	3	4	3	7
White-crowned Sparrow						4
Western Meadowlark				25
Hooded Oriole			7
Red-winged Blackbird			1
Great-tailed Grackle	4	3	20	2		2
Orange-crowned Warbler					4	2
Common Yellowthroat		1		4	4	5
Yellow Warbler					2
Yellow-rumped(Aud) Warbler						10
Totals by Type	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct
Waterfowl	60	62	75	22	18	17
Water Birds – Other	113	47	40	30	99	146
Herons, Egrets & Ibis	4	6	13	14	25	9
Quail & Raptors	2	0	0	1	0	1
Shorebirds	39	30	58	197	248	229
Gulls & Terns	334	144	358	364	129	22
Doves	0	11	13	9	10	12
Other Non-Passerines	4	3	4	1	11	2
Passerines	62	137	99	152	79	135
Totals Birds	618	440	660	790	619	573
Total Species	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct
Waterfowl	3	3	3	3	3	4
Water Birds – Other	4	4	4	4	5	7
Herons, Egrets & Ibis	2	3	3	4	3	3
Quail & Raptors	2	0	0	1	0	1
Shorebirds	5	6	10	10	12	9
Gulls & Terns	6	3	5	8	5	2
Doves	0	2	2	2	2	2
Other Non-Passerines	1	1	2	1	3	2
Passerines	9	11	13	15	18	18
Totals Species – 84	32	33	42	48	51	48