June Gloom at Malibu Lagoon, 20 June 2021

[Posted by Chuck Almdale]

Twasn’t brillig. No toves, slithy or otherwise. (Lillian Johnson 6-20-21)

The lagoon outlet remains closed and the lagoon water level is the same level as in May—7.0 ft on the tidal sidewalk. Even more algae floats on the surface. It was thick enough for ducklings to walk upon easily. Adults had a tougher time and looked like people struggling through thick snow.

June gloom has fallen upon us, thick in the morning, barely beginning to burn off by 11 am. After the scorching days of early June, temperatures of  63°-69° are very welcome. Tide was falling from the +4.89 ft. high at 6:27 am. Rocks began to show, but no shorebirds, gulls or terns wished to use them. Twenty-six shorebirds snoozed at the edge of the lagoon: 13 Black-bellied Plovers, 4 Killdeer, 9 Whimbrel. Later two Ruddy Turnstones came from the west and landed on the large offshore rocks. They are probably returning migrants as their plumage looked less than perfect, but they were difficult to see in the foggy gray gloom.

Ducks: Gadwall possibly eclipse male (L) and Mallard female (R.)
(both photos Adrian Douglas 6-20-21)

Mallard and Gadwall females and eclipse males can be hard to differentiate. Useful characteristics: Gadwall has steeper forehead profile, white patch in secondaries may show, bill slightly shorter. Mallard has sloping forehead, shows mostly white in tail, may show purple speculum in wing secondaries.

About two-thirds of the 116 ducks were ducklings ranging in size from fluffy puffball to large juvenile.

Adamson House, lagoon & algae from viewpoint near PCH bridge.
(L. Johnson 6-20-21)

Most of the Canada Geese swam to the southwestern sand island, rested around the “Osprey pole” and worked on their plumage.

Canada Geese, adults and juveniles (R. Juncosa 6-20-21)

An ultra-rare blue-winged Canada Goose? Plastic? Tag? Spy camera? (A. Douglas 6-20-21)

We spotted one goose with a baby-blue patch in the left wing. A piece of plastic? Some sort of tag? He kept turning around, and around, sorting through his feathers, and as the patch was only on the left side, it took a while to get a good look at it and work out what it was.

Blue-winged Canada Goose? (A. Douglas 6-21-20)
It’s the feather rachis growing out! I count six. That they would grow out without any sign of vanes or barbs I did not know, nor did I know they were baby blue.

There was a total of 348 birds in 34 species. June nearly always has the lowest counts of the year, followed by May and July, but that seemed pretty low, even for June. So I checked.

Average June birds for prior 10-year period: 510, ranging 863-258.
Average June species for prior 10-year period: 40, ranging 48-33.
Lowest all-time bird count any month: 5/25/80 – 113 birds & 12 species, including 104 gulls.
Lowest all-time species count any month: 6/20/81 – 8 species and 177 birds, including 80 gulls and 60 ducks.

Brown Pelicans, Double-crested Cormorants and a few others on a sand island.
(R. Juncosa 6-20-21)

There were a moderate number of swallows cruising the lagoon and beach – mostly Barn Swallows but a few Cliff Swallows as well.

We had three very worn gulls, their scapulars and coverts reduced to little more than bare rachises (there’s that word again). The bird pictured above had crown feathers so worn down that you could see the dark skin underneath. We determined that they were Ring-billed Gulls.

Great-tailed Grackles were making themselves well-known, with sky-pointing displays and frequent loud gurgles, bugles, burbles and boinks. This may be late nesting or re-nesting. June is not too early for re-nesting, as the Eurasian Collared-Dove pair in our back yard finished their first nesting in early May and began again in late May.

Great-tailed Grackles, male & female (both photos (R. Juncosa 6-20-21)

Birds new for the season: Mourning Dove, Ruddy Turnstone.

Many thanks to photographers: Adrian Douglas, Lillian Johnson & Ray Juncosa

The next SMBAS scheduled field trips: Maybe in September. We’ll see.

The next SMBAS program: The Floating Roost Trial: a novel solution to losses in migratory shorebird habitat, with Chris Purnell of Birdlife Australia. Zoom Evening Meeting, Tuesday, 6 July, 7:30 p.m.

The SMBAS 10 a.m. Parent’s & Kids Birdwalk remains 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:
2020: Jan-July, July-Dec  2019: Jan-June, July-Dec  
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.

Many thanks to Adrian Douglas, Lillian Johnson & Ray Juncosa and others for their contributions to this month’s checklist.
[Chuck Almdale]

Malibu Census 2021	1/22	2/22	3/22	4/25	5/22	6/20
Temperature	60-61	65-74	60-61	58-63	59-68	63-69
Tide Lo/Hi Height	L+0.86	L-0.13	L+0.86	H+4.83	L+1.57	H+4.89
Tide Time	1223	1314	1223	0843	0736	0627
(Black) Brant				1
Canada Goose	8	8	6	8	6	10
Cinnamon Teal		4	7
Northern Shoveler			8
Gadwall	8	12	16	25	18	65
American Wigeon	8	12	8
Mallard	8	10	16	18	22	40
Northern Pintail	2	2
Green-winged Teal	6	11	25
Surf Scoter		15	2
Bufflehead	6	4
Red-breasted Merganser	1	12	12	3		1
Ruddy Duck	6	25
Pied-billed Grebe	2	6	6	1	1
Eared Grebe		1	2
Western Grebe		4	11	4
Feral Pigeon	3	4	6	9	15	9
Mourning Dove		1	6			2
Anna’s Hummingbird		2	3	1	1	1
Allen’s Hummingbird		2	2	4	2	1
American Coot	110	210	235	75	6	9
Black Oystercatcher	2	4	4
Black-bellied Plover	25	25	31	22	5	13
Snowy Plover	21	27	23
Semipalmated Plover	1			29
Killdeer	20	4	7	1	6	4
Whimbrel	8	3	6	3	19	9
Marbled Godwit	10	11	10
Ruddy Turnstone	1		5			2
Sanderling	8	50	160
Dunlin				1
Least Sandpiper	6	4	8	1
Western Sandpiper		1	4	20
Spotted Sandpiper		1		1
Willet	12	11	6	2	1
Heermann’s Gull	16	2	42	28	280
Ring-billed Gull	15	38	12	6
Western Gull	30	80	65	40	35	45
California Gull	50	235	130	35	10	4
Herring Gull			1
Glaucous-winged Gull	3	1	1	1	1
Caspian Tern			4	20	13	3
Royal Tern	5	6	24	6		2
Elegant Tern				395	107	1
Pacific Loon		1
Brandt’s Cormorant		5
Double-crested Cormorant	85	52	25	12	26	26
Pelagic Cormorant		1		1
Brown Pelican	162	12	27	105	235	27
Great Blue Heron	1	3			3	2
Great Egret	2	2	2	1	1	4
Snowy Egret	10	9	3	2	1	6
Green Heron					1
Black-crowned Night-Heron		1
Turkey Vulture	1		1		1
Osprey	1		2	2	1
Cooper’s Hawk	1
Red-shouldered Hawk					2
Belted Kingfisher	1
Nuttall’s Woodpecker	1
Peregrine Falcon				1
Black Phoebe	1	2	2	8	6
Say’s Phoebe	1
Western Kingbird					1
California Scrub-Jay		1	2
American Crow	6	2	5	4	4	3
Common Raven			1
Violet-green Swallow					2
Rough-winged Swallow			6	2	3
Cliff Swallow					8	4
Barn Swallow			10	25	30	18
Oak Titmouse					2
Bushtit	30	8	20	1	8	4
Western Bluebird			2
Northern Mockingbird			2	4	5	2
European Starling	10		75	5		8
House Finch	4	4	10	6	6	6
Lesser Goldfinch	6	4	16	2
Spotted Towhee				1
California Towhee		1	4		3
Song Sparrow	3	4	7	7	8	4
White-crowned Sparrow	4	5	6	2
Hooded Oriole				1	1
Red-winged Blackbird			2	2	4
Brown-headed Cowbird			2	1		1
Great-tailed Grackle		1	8	6	6	8
Common Yellowthroat	1		3			4
Yellow Warbler					2
Yellow-rumped Warbler	6	14	15	1
Totals by Type	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Waterfowl	53	115	100	55	46	116
Water Birds – Other	359	292	306	198	268	62
Herons, Egrets & Ibis	13	15	5	3	6	12
Quail & Raptors	3	0	3	3	4	0
Shorebirds	114	141	264	80	31	28
Gulls & Terns	119	362	279	531	446	55
Doves	3	5	12	9	15	11
Other Non-Passerines	2	4	5	5	3	2
Passerines	72	46	198	78	99	62
Totals Birds	738	980	1172	962	918	348
Total Species	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Waterfowl	9	11	9	5	3	4
Water Birds – Other	4	9	6	6	4	3
Herons, Egrets & Ibis	3	4	2	2	4	3
Quail & Raptors	3	0	2	2	3	0
Shorebirds	11	11	11	9	4	4
Gulls & Terns	6	6	8	8	6	5
Doves	1	2	2	1	1	2
Other Non-Passerines	2	2	2	2	2	2
Passerines	11	11	20	17	17	11
Totals Species – 89	50	56	62	52	44	34