A welcome gloom at Malibu Lagoon, 25 July 2021

[Posted by Chuck Almdale]

As usual for summer months the Malibu Lagoon outlet is closed and the water level is high, still about 7 ft. above sea level. The surface algae is thick and the smallest ducklings can gallop over it. Surf shapes were really nice, waves festooned with surfers and the slim portion of beach outside the Snowy Plover exclosure was jammed gill-to-gill with families, beachlayers and surfwatchers. Some of our birding group, upon seeing the dense crowd, decided to skip a last look at the lagoon’s south shore and head home, probably to a beer and sandwich (always a recommended choice of refreshment).

June gloom stretches into July, welcome when nearby valley temperatures head towards and past 100°F. At 8:30 am it was 66°F, then 74°F at 11 am, when we left. Very pleasant. Again, as usual, birding begins to pick up after the low diversity of June. Today we had 819 birds in 40 species; in June it was 348 and 34, respectively. The resting flock of Elegant Terns accounted for half of the increase.

Should you ever want to see what eBird has to report on Malibu Lagoon, go here: https://ebird.org/hotspot/L597658

Duck numbers (Mallard and Gadwall) dropped about 20%. Immature ducklings account for about 80% of the ducks, so most of the drop was probably youngsters. The ducks certainly spread their breeding period out, as there are nearly full size and well-plumaged ducklings, as well as small and exceedingly buoyant puffballs. The Canada Geese were gone.

The Great-tailed Grackles are still quite noisy and busy. One got into the snack portion of lagoon-resident Sergio’s possession-pile. Others preened, sky-pointed, gurgled and boinked from pole-top and tree.

Shorebirds are returning. June’s paltry four species are now nine and numbers jumped from 28 to 138. Most of the increase were Whimbrels and Black-bellied (Grey, for you Brits) Plovers, some still with black bellies.

But there were also Least and Western Sandpipers in small numbers, a crowd of three Red-necked Phalaropes in the algae-free portion of the lagoon, two stunning Ruddy Turnstones, and nine Western Snowy Plovers pockmarked the beach.

And all those noisy Elegant Terns, with a few Royal Terns mixed in just to keep them honest.

Perhaps most unusual were all the Black-crowned Night-Herons (not to mention 38 other herons/egrets). Eight juveniles were scattered around the lagoon edge, standing on logs, lurking in the pickleweed.

As their name implies, you might expect night-herons to be out at night. Otherwise why call them “night”-herons? Daytime feeding is the default for herons, so we don’t call them “day”-herons. However, by the time the newly-fledged juvenile night-herons get to Malibu Lagoon, they’re on their own. Mom and dad no longer feed them, so they must hunt for themselves and do it when they can. They’re less efficient than adults, they have to spend more time doing it and they do get hungry. So daytime feeding is common among juveniles.

Adult night-herons tend to day-roost in dense trees, reeds or bushes during the day. We used to find a dozen or so of them in the row of eucalypts behind the market across PCH, well-hidden high in the foliage.

Night-herons comprise the subfamily Nycticoracinae in the heron family of Ardeidae, with eight species spread over three tribes. Black-crowned is the most widespread species, found on all continents except Australia and Antarctica, and some islands. The similar Yellow-crowned breeds from the U.S. eastern seaboard and Baja California down both coasts to south of the equator in Brazil and Ecuador. In recent decades they have extended their coastal breeding range northward in California.

Joe Morlan writes:

Yellow-crowned Night Herons have expanded their breeding range and multiple pairs now nest in a restricted area at the nearby Point Mugu Naval Air Station in Ventura County, which is now the northern end of their West Coast breeding range. First successful nesting of this species in California was in 2006 at Imperial Beach, San Diego County. Despite its recent range expansion, it remains a rarity in most of California. Six subspecies are recognized. This [Santa Barbara county bird, photo on linked page] is N. v. bancrofti characterized by pale coloration, narrower dorsal streaks and having a thicker bill than the nominate East Coast race. Distribution of N. v. bancrofti is weird with two widely spaced populations, one centered in NW Mexico and the other in the Bahamas and West Indies.

A few of us thought one of our birds might be a Yellow-crowned, due to some coloration on the face or neck or lores (fleshy area between the eyes and bill). But all the birds had the Black-crowned two-toned bill and large pale teardrop-spots on the back. Juvenile Yellow-crowned have a dark bill, grayish face and smaller spots on the back. I’m sure a Yellow-crowned will eventually show up on one of our walks. We did have a hybrid Yellow/Black-crowned juvenile about a decade ago.

The other six night-herons are scattered around the world: Rufous Night-Heron in Australasia; White-backed in sub-Saharan Africa; White-eared is restricted to a tiny area in southern China; Japanese in Japan, China and Philippines; Malayan in Malaysia, China, Philippines and Indonesia. Boat-billed Heron, in its own Tribe of Cochleariini, has an enormous bill and is found from southern Mexico to southern Brazil.

All the Night-herons have, for herons, large eyes, the better to see you with in the dark, my dear. They could be called crepuscular-herons, as they prefer feeding at dusk and dawn, but they will feed at night, so Night-herons it is.

Earlier in the day Chris Tosdevin and I watched a Cooper’s Hawk flush and fly across the lagoon. It shot into a large eucalypt (I believe) at the east end of Malibu Colony, and an adult Black-crowned Night-Heron immediately shot out the other side. I checked this tree before leaving the beach and sure enough, about 20 ft. above a patch of whitewashed leaves, I found the night-heron peering down at me from behind a clump of foliage.

Birds new for the season: Snowy Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Least Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Red-necked Phalarope, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Cooper’s Hawk, California Scrub-Jay.

Many thanks to photographers: Lillian Johnson, Ray Juncosa, Larry Loeher, Grace Murayama & Chris Tosdevin

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

The next SMBAS program: Most likely a Zoom Evening Meeting, Tuesday, 5 October, 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:
2021: Jan-July
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, remain available—despite numerous complaints—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, Chris Tosdevin and others for their contributions to this month’s checklist.
[Chuck Almdale]

Malibu Census 2021	2/22	3/22	4/25	5/22	6/20	7/25
Temperature	65-74	60-61	58-63	59-68	63-69	66-74
Tide Lo/Hi Height	L-0.13	L+0.86	H+4.83	L+1.57	H+4.89	H+4.20
Tide Time	1314	1223	0843	0736	0627	1148
(Black) Brant			1
Canada Goose	8	6	8	6	10
Cinnamon Teal	4	7
Northern Shoveler		8
Gadwall	12	16	25	18	65	48
American Wigeon	12	8
Mallard	10	16	18	22	40	37
Northern Pintail	2
Green-winged Teal	11	25
Surf Scoter	15	2
Bufflehead	4
Red-breasted Merganser	12	12	3		1	1
Ruddy Duck	25
Pied-billed Grebe	6	6	1	1		2
Eared Grebe	1	2
Western Grebe	4	11	4
Feral Pigeon	4	6	9	15	9	15
Mourning Dove	1	6			2	4
Anna’s Hummingbird	2	3	1	1	1	1
Allen’s Hummingbird	2	2	4	2	1
American Coot	210	235	75	6	9	8
Black Oystercatcher	4	4
Black-bellied Plover	25	31	22	5	13	43
Snowy Plover	27	23				9
Semipalmated Plover			29			1
Killdeer	4	7	1	6	4	9
Whimbrel	3	6	3	19	9	51
Marbled Godwit	11	10
Ruddy Turnstone		5			2	2
Sanderling	50	160
Dunlin			1
Least Sandpiper	4	8	1			8
Western Sandpiper	1	4	20			12
Spotted Sandpiper	1		1
Willet	11	6	2	1
Red-necked Phalarope						3
Heermann’s Gull	2	42	28	280		2
Ring-billed Gull	38	12	6
Western Gull	80	65	40	35	45	52
California Gull	235	130	35	10	4	1
Herring Gull		1
Glaucous-winged Gull	1	1	1	1
Caspian Tern		4	20	13	3
Royal Tern	6	24	6		2	5
Elegant Tern			395	107	1	240
Pacific Loon	1
Brandt’s Cormorant	5
Double-crested Cormorant	52	25	12	26	26	52
Pelagic Cormorant	1		1
Brown Pelican	12	27	105	235	27	58
Great Blue Heron	3			3	2	5
Great Egret	2	2	1	1	4	11
Snowy Egret	9	3	2	1	6	22
Green Heron				1
Black-crowned Night-Heron	1					9
Turkey Vulture		1		1
Osprey		2	2	1
Cooper’s Hawk						1
Red-shouldered Hawk				2
Peregrine Falcon			1
Black Phoebe	2	2	8	6		3
Western Kingbird				1
California Scrub-Jay	1	2				1
American Crow	2	5	4	4	3	4
Common Raven		1
Violet-green Swallow				2
Rough-winged Swallow		6	2	3
Cliff Swallow				8	4
Barn Swallow		10	25	30	18	40
Oak Titmouse				2		1
Bushtit	8	20	1	8	4	1
Western Bluebird		2
Northern Mockingbird		2	4	5	2	1
European Starling		75	5		8
House Finch	4	10	6	6	6	6
Lesser Goldfinch	4	16	2
Spotted Towhee			1
California Towhee	1	4		3
Song Sparrow	4	7	7	8	4	5
White-crowned Sparrow	5	6	2
Hooded Oriole			1	1
Red-winged Blackbird		2	2	4		25
Brown-headed Cowbird		2	1		1
Great-tailed Grackle	1	8	6	6	8	20
Common Yellowthroat		3			4
Yellow Warbler				2
Yellow-rumped Warbler	14	15	1
Totals by Type	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul
Waterfowl	115	100	55	46	116	86
Water Birds – Other	292	306	198	268	62	120
Herons, Egrets & Ibis	15	5	3	6	12	47
Quail & Raptors	0	3	3	4	0	1
Shorebirds	141	264	80	31	28	138
Gulls & Terns	362	279	531	446	55	300
Doves	5	12	9	15	11	19
Other Non-Passerines	4	5	5	3	2	1
Passerines	46	198	78	99	62	107
Totals Birds	980	1172	962	918	348	819
Total Species	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul
Waterfowl	11	9	5	3	4	3
Water Birds – Other	9	6	6	4	3	4
Herons, Egrets & Ibis	4	2	2	4	3	4
Quail & Raptors	0	2	2	3	0	1
Shorebirds	11	11	9	4	4	9
Gulls & Terns	6	8	8	6	5	5
Doves	2	2	1	1	2	2
Other Non-Passerines	2	2	2	2	2	1
Passerines	11	20	17	17	11	11
Totals Species – 87	56	62	52	44	34	40