Pandemic wave-trough field trip: Malibu Lagoon, 27 March 2022

[By Chuck Almdale]

The water level in the lagoon was ‘middlin’—below the tidal clock sidewalk, but most of the channels remained wet. The tide dropped rapidly from 5.0 ft. @ 0615 to -0.81 ft @ 1339; a drop of almost 6 ft in 7 hours. Rocks were exposed offshore, and mud appeared in the lagoon.

This was our first ‘open-to-the-public’ bird walk since Feb. 2020. I approached it with trepidation: there would be more than twice the usual number of people, half of them unknown personally to me, how would they behave, would there be fistfights about masking vs unmasking, would my voice carry through my mask, would my voice hold out (I am more easily winded these days), would I still be able to do my census, etc. etc. blah blah blah.

It went pretty well, I think.

I did not require than anyone other than myself wear a mask (as LA County is continually claiming to soon drop the requirement for people indoors) and to my enormous surprise, everyone was masked. At least, as long as they were with the main group.

As usual, people wandered off by themselves—sometimes to return, sometimes not—at which point they usually (I think) drop their masks. I tend to go more slowly than some to point out things to new people and answer questions.

When people bird by themselves, I think they may learn fewer new details, but they learn them more thoroughly because they figure them out for themselves.

About half the group was new (in varying degrees) to birding or at least new to the lagoon. Some of them had watched the Zoom presentation I did for the UCLA Retirees Association earlier in the week and it piqued their interest.

So, all that aside, it was a very nice day for birding. Because it was overcast the temperature began mild and remained mild. May the weather gods grant us overcast and foggy weather until next December!

We had three events which bordered on being new and unusual.

Firstly, the Song Sparrows and White-crowned Sparrows were singing like crazy. What a racket! All along the pathways we were surrounded by songsters. You would have thought it was springtime. It gave us a great opportunity to hear these two quite different songs and compare them, over and over and over. I think a few people learned to tell the difference. White-crowned Sparrow: a nasally slightly whiney song with a narrower range of frequency than the Song Sparrow, thus sounding a bit more ‘tinny.’ Song Sparrow: richer song, wider frequencies, three parts – slow, fast & short, slow. The three parts can vary widely in content; the last time I read about the Song Sparrow, a few years back, the count was up to 95 different song varieties across their continent-wide range.

Secondly were the eight Glaucous-winged Gulls. [‘Glaucous’ means waxy.] We regularly get this species in small numbers in the winter & spring months, and our previous high counts were twelve birds on 2-22-09 and eleven birds the following month on 3-22-09. I would not be shocked to learn that those were the same individuals in both months.

Following that, we had two counts of eight birds, one count of seven, six counts of six, and seven counts of 5 birds, including Jan & Feb of 2022. With 131 census days on which at least one Glaucous-winged Gull was sighted, that leaves 113 sightings of 1 to 4 birds. The resulting average is 2.6 birds/sighting. That’s a good definition for “regular in small numbers.” December through May are the best months for seeing them at the lagoon. We’ve never seen one in September and only one in August.

I suspect (but don’t know for sure) that Glaucous-winged and Western Gulls are each other’s closest relative, for three reasons: they hybridize, they look a great deal alike (Western is much darker on mantle and primaries) and their breeding ranges overlap only slightly, around Seattle and Vancouver. From that location the Western breeds southward to mid-Baja California, while Glaucous-winged breeds northward to Nome and the tip of the Aleutian Islands. It’s interesting to note that the northern subspecies of the Western Gull Larus occidentalis occidentalis, has a lighter mantle (back) than the southern subspecies L. o. wymani.

The third unusual event concerned the other member of the above discussion, the Western Gull. Tidepools formed due to the negative low tide (-0.81 ft), and we came upon a nicely-plumaged adult Western Gull, standing on a small rock next to a tidepool and screaming for all (s)he was worth. It took a while, but we finally figured out what it was all about. See pictures below.

I’d never seen an octopus in the Malibu tidepools before. I have empathy for these interesting creatures who can figure how to pull a cork out of a bottle and reach inside to latch onto a fish. I’d once had a minor tug-of-war with one while scuba-diving at White’s Cove on the Palos Verdes peninsula, and got to watch it go through instantaneous and stunning skin pattern & color changes. In the Alaskan ‘banana belt’ a restaurant-owner with an aquarium told us of the octopuses that would escape. They’d lift up the glass aquarium cover, climb out and down the side to the floor, out the door and across the sand and rock beach to the water about 100 yards away. Holding its breath (gills?) all the way, of course. After several such escapes, the owners gave up trying to keep them.

We managed to find some Snowy Plovers. Counts ranged from seven to ten. I always count at least 5 times. Sometimes 15 times, if they’re at distance or up and running around. Other people are counting as well. Even when the birds are resting they are very difficult to see, as they sit quite low in their little scoops in the sand and can hide behind inch-high bumps. In this case, Chris Tosdevin had a count of ten, so I’m using that.

Malibu Lagoon on eBird: 4/04/22 – 5713 lists, 312 species

Birds new for the season: Elegant Tern, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Barn Swallow, Wrentit.

Many thanks to photographers: Lillian Johnson, Ray Juncosa & Chris Tosdevin.

Upcoming SMBAS scheduled field trips: The 24 April lagoon trip may—or may not—be open to the public, depending on pandemic, of course. You can email your reservation to me beginning 10 April. Limit 30 people by reservation only, vaccine card required (QR code NOT sufficient), bring your own equipment. Two leaders. No 10am Children & Parents walk. Watch the blog for announcements AND for cancellation by 22 April if warranted. Same deal for 22 May lagoon trip.

The next SMBAS program: Laysan Albatrosses & Lead, with Dr. Myra Finkelstein of UC Santa Cruz. Zoom Evening Meeting, Tuesday, 4 May 2022, 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
More recent aerial photo

Prior checklists:
2021: Jan-July,  July-Dec
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 Lillian Johnson, Chris Lord, Chris Tosdevin and others for their contributions to this month’s checklist.

The list below now includes a column on the left side with numbers 1-9, keyed to the nine categories of birds at the bottom. The species are re-sequenced to agree to the California Bird Records Committee Official California Checklist, updated 15 Jan 2022. I generally do this at the start of each year.
[Chuck Almdale]

The mystery bird is a Wrentit. We’ve had them 13 out of the past 36 months.
This “voice of the chaparral” is far more often seen than heard.

	Malibu Census 2021-22	10/24	11/28	12/26	1/23	2/27	3/27
	Temperature	54-63	57-70	54-62	61-73	61-70	57-65
	Tide Lo/Hi Height	H+5.23	L+2.35	L+2.58	L+2.04	H+5.76	H+5.00
	Tide Time	1105	1104	0900	0645	0621	0615
1	Canada Goose		10	4	2	2	6
1	Egyptian Goose					1
1	Cinnamon Teal					2
1	Northern Shoveler	2
1	Gadwall	4	2	20	29	8	47
1	American Wigeon	4	2	10	4		6
1	Mallard	3	2	12	20	12	30
1	Northern Pintail		2	1	1
1	Green-winged Teal	5	5	15	11	12	15
1	Surf Scoter				10		15
1	Bufflehead		1	10	2	5	2
1	Hooded Merganser			13
1	Red-breasted Merganser		17	15	9	6	5
1	Ruddy Duck	5	8	13		4	1
2	Pied-billed Grebe	5	3	5	3	3	3
2	Horned Grebe			1
2	Eared Grebe	1	1			1
2	Western Grebe	12			30	12	16
7	Feral Pigeon	6	52	3	20	10	8
7	Band-tailed Pigeon					3
7	Eurasian Collared-Dove				1
7	Mourning Dove	5	1	1		4	2
8	Anna’s Hummingbird		1	2	2	2	1
8	Allen’s Hummingbird	3	1	4	3	3	3
2	American Coot	240	245	360	49	73	65
5	Black-bellied Plover	87	166	104	58	25	28
5	Killdeer	23	20	10	2	10	4
5	Semipalmated Plover	2
5	Snowy Plover	34	40	34		15	10
5	Whimbrel	4	12	9	8	2	8
5	Marbled Godwit	34	9	71	32	1
5	Ruddy Turnstone	6		1	6	5
5	Sanderling	104	22	22	1		45
5	Dunlin	2
5	Least Sandpiper	9	3	35	12	20	10
5	Western Sandpiper	2	1		1	11	35
5	Willet	25	34	13	15	8	6
6	Bonaparte’s Gull			2	1
6	Heermann’s Gull	2	53	26	45	1	8
6	Ring-billed Gull	2	28	170	40	175	16
6	Western Gull	63	92	85	95	88	95
6	California Gull	9	515	370	925	510	185
6	Herring Gull		1		2	1	2
6	Glaucous-winged Gull	1		2	5	5	8
6	Caspian Tern					1	8
6	Royal Tern	2			5	2	35
6	Elegant Tern						6
2	Red-throated Loon			1	1	2
2	Pacific Loon				1	2
2	Common Loon				2	1
2	Black-vented Shearwater				1000
2	Brandt’s Cormorant	2	10	1	6	1	5
2	Pelagic Cormorant	1	4	1	12	3	1
2	Double-crested Cormorant	67	52	39	45	51	33
2	Brown Pelican	21	99	44	110	15	23
3	Great Blue Heron	3	3	4	4	2	1
3	Great Egret	3	1	7	2		5
3	Snowy Egret	11	4	24	6	3	4
3	Green Heron			2	1
3	Black-crowned Night-Heron	1		1	5
4	Turkey Vulture			1		1	5
4	Osprey		1	1	1	1	1
4	Cooper’s Hawk		1	2	1	1
4	Red-shouldered Hawk			1	1	1
4	Red-tailed Hawk		1	1	1	1
8	Belted Kingfisher				1	1	1
8	Downy Woodpecker			1
8	Nuttall’s Woodpecker			1
8	Hairy Woodpecker		1
4	Merlin				1
9	Black Phoebe	5	4	4	4	3	3
9	Say’s Phoebe	1				1
9	California Scrub-Jay	1		2	2	3	2
9	American Crow	6	1	7	4	20	6
9	Common Raven				1
9	Oak Titmouse				1
9	Tree Swallow				2
9	No. Rough-winged Swallow						2
9	Barn Swallow			2			4
9	Bushtit		48		12	4	4
9	Wrentit			1			2
9	Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1	1
9	Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	4	4	1		2
9	House Wren	2	1
9	Marsh Wren	2
9	Bewick’s Wren	1		4
9	Northern Mockingbird	2		1	1		1
9	European Starling		31	9	15	30	3
9	Hermit Thrush			1	1
9	House Finch	4	18	8	8	5	15
9	Lesser Goldfinch	1	2	2	4	2
9	Dark-eyed Junco			2	4	3
9	White-crowned Sparrow	5	15	17	35	25	20
9	Savannah Sparrow			1
9	Song Sparrow	4	7	8	6	6	10
9	California Towhee	2	2	4	2	2	2
9	Western Meadowlark	1
9	Red-winged Blackbird					2
9	Great-tailed Grackle	4	3	7	1	3	5
9	Orange-crowned Warbler		2		1
9	Common Yellowthroat	4	5	6	3	1	1
9	Yellow-rumped Warbler	6	19	20	10	6	1
	Totals by Type	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar
1	Waterfowl	23	49	113	88	52	127
2	Water Birds – Other	349	414	452	1259	164	146
3	Herons, Egrets & Ibis	18	8	38	18	5	10
4	Quail & Raptors	0	3	6	5	5	6
5	Shorebirds	332	307	299	135	97	146
6	Gulls & Terns	79	689	655	1118	783	363
7	Doves	11	53	4	21	17	10
8	Other Non-Passerines	3	3	8	6	6	5
9	Passerines	56	163	107	117	118	81
	Totals Birds	871	1689	1682	2767	1247	894
	Total Species	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar
1	Waterfowl	6	9	10	9	9	9
2	Water Birds – Other	8	7	8	11	11	7
3	Herons, Egrets & Ibis	4	3	5	5	2	3
4	Quail & Raptors	0	3	5	5	5	2
5	Shorebirds	12	9	9	9	9	8
6	Gulls & Terns	6	5	6	8	8	9
7	Doves	2	2	2	2	3	2
8	Other Non-Passerines	1	3	4	3	3	3
9	Passerines	19	16	20	20	17	16
	Totals Species – 102	58	57	69	72	67	59