Spring Migration & Plumage Changes: Malibu Lagoon, 24 April 2022

[By Chuck Almdale]

Springtime is definitely here. It was very breezy; at least 5 mph with gusts to 20. “We’re probably not going to see a lot of passerines today…it’s tough to see birds moving through moving leaves.” The variety of passerine species—17—turned out to be higher than I expected, but total passerine count of 64 was only 60% of our average over 25 years of April count days.

The temperature started at 72°F at 8:30 am, a bad place to start, as it can end well (not well) into the 80° by 11:30. We were lucky and it was only 75° when we stopped, although the breeze had died by then. Warm, but not hot. Quite pleasant, in fact, with a clear blue sky. Another you-know-what day in paradise.

We changed the attendance format slightly this month. We still took reservations, raising it from 25 to 30, and the trip was sold out due to the low, low cost of admission (because we pass the savings on to you!), although there are always a few no-shows. Lu Plauzoles was again the co-leader, and this time he came equipped with a microphone connected to a small speaker near his solar plexus. “Saves my voice,” he said, the sound issuing disconcertingly from his stomach instead of his mouth, like some sort of ventriloquist. “Otherwise, I’ll be croaking by eleven.” It looked odd but worked well.

I don’t know what changes—if any—we’ll make for the May 22 field trip. Look for a trip announcement with details around May 10, and a go/no go announcement two days prior to the trip.

We had a few avian surprises. The coot population had dropped from 65 last month to one whole bird, but we had six waterfowl species, with Gadwalls amounting to half of the totals. There were eleven species of sandpiper and plover, more than I expected. I also hoped for an oriole, whether Bullock’s or Hooded, but none appeared nor announced their presence.

It was really nice to see an Eared Grebe in breeding (alternate) plumage. You can see their ears, for instance, those bushy reddish-brown feather-sprays sprouting from behind their eyes. Most of the time when they’re here they’re in their basic (non-breeding) plumage, but sometimes, just before they leave for the north, they grace us with their finery.

Semipalmated Plovers are passing through again, this time on their way north. April is their most reliable month. I looked at the past 12 years and if we’re there (I missed two Aprils), they’re there. I strongly suspect that they’re there in April whether or not we’re there to observe them. [Take that!, Schrödinger wave function collapse fans!] Fifteen birds is a good count for this species, but by no means their highest.

The other unexpected sighting was six Spotted Sandpipers. All had spots, unlike the fall and winter birds which are inconveniently spotless. We usually have 1-3 birds spend the whole winter at the lagoon, but not this year; we hadn’t seen one since last August and September. We never have many: the highest count for 168 sighting-days was ten birds on 25 Oct 2015, but we usually have one or two prowling the edge of the lagoon during non-breeding season. The first one we saw (see left bird below) was happily resting on top of a large boulder among the low-tide-exposed rocky tidepools in front of Malibu Colony. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one on the ocean side of the beach before; they really prefer the edges of the lagoon and channels, or even inland of the PCH bridge along the edge of the creek.

Unlike Western and Least Sandpipers (and the occasional Dunlin and Red-necked Stint), they don’t freely associate with other species of small sandpipers (aka ‘Peeps’), and just barely associate with other Spotted Sandpipers. When we have 2-4 at the lagoon, a typical number range, they’re all in different places, not hanging out with each other. This is reminiscent of the very-well-named Solitary Sandpiper. I’ve never seen more than one ‘Solitary’ at a time, anywhere, ever. Perhaps they reproduce by parthenogenesis, or budding off clones of themselves like coral polyps.

Water was lowish in the lagoon; the tidal sidewalk clock was completely dry and mud-free, and the west end of the channels was dry mud.

Song Sparrows were singing from the brush in numerous locations. We managed to spot a few. White-crowned Sparrows—unlike Song Sparrows—don’t nest at the lagoon, and have mostly fled. California Towhees were calling. Two male Brown-headed Cowbirds were present; we didn’t see any females. This prompted me to give the group a brief discussion of Cowbirds, Buffalo-birds, Cuckoos and nest parasitism. Fascinating stuff (cue eye-roll).

Killdeer are probably nesting somewhere on the beach or sandy islands, but we didn’t see any signs of them. Double-crested Cormorants are also up their old tricks with sticks and strands of kelp streaming from their bills, from the beach to their several nesting trees in the shopping center.

There was one group of ten Bushtits, which may still be hanging on as a group since last fall, or may be the result of several new families already fledged and prowling the bushes together. We couldn’t see them well enough to try and tell if they were a mixture of adult and fledglings.

We looked and looked but found no Western Snowy Plovers. Presumably they have all left for their usual nesting grounds farther north. Five days earlier, on 19 April, Grace & Larry had only one WSP at Malibu Lagoon and none at all at Zuma.

Malibu Lagoon on eBird: as of 5-1-22: 5781 lists, 315 species

Birds new for the season: Semipalmated Plover, Dunlin, Spotted Sandpiper, Cliff Swallow, House Wren, Brown-headed Cowbird.

Many thanks to photographers: Lynzie Flynn, Lillian Johnson & Chris Tosdevin

Upcoming SMBAS scheduled field trips: We may do this again on May 22, depending on the oncoming Omikron Ba.2…whateva infection wave. Watch for blog announcements.  Reservations will be taken starting May 10. Limit 30 people by reservation only, vaccine card, bring your own equipment. No 10am Children & Parents walk. Maybe we will have some other, different trips if anyone is interested.
Watch the blog for announcements AND for cancellation by 20 May if warranted. Same deal for 26 June lagoon trip; June 10 and 24 will be announcement dates.

The next SMBAS program: Bird Migration at the Bear Divide, San Gabriel Mtns., with Ryan Terrill of Occidental College. Zoom Evening Meeting, Tuesday, 7 June 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 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 sequence update at the start of each year.
[Chuck Almdale]

	Malibu Census 2021-22	11/28	12/26	1/23	2/27	3/27	4/24
	Temperature	57-70	54-62	61-73	61-70	57-65	72-75
	Tide Lo/Hi Height	L+2.35	L+2.58	L+2.04	H+5.76	H+5.00	H+4.50
	Tide Time	1104	0900	0645	0621	0615	0442
1	Canada Goose	10	4	2	2	6	3
1	Egyptian Goose				1
1	Cinnamon Teal				2
1	Gadwall	2	20	29	8	47	26
1	American Wigeon	2	10	4		6	1
1	Mallard	2	12	20	12	30	14
1	Northern Pintail	2	1	1
1	Green-winged Teal	5	15	11	12	15	2
1	Surf Scoter			10		15	3
1	Bufflehead	1	10	2	5
1	Common Goldeneye					2
1	Hooded Merganser		13
1	Red-breasted Merganser	17	15	9	6	5
1	Ruddy Duck	8	13		4	1
2	Pied-billed Grebe	3	5	3	3	3	1
2	Horned Grebe		1
2	Eared Grebe	1			1		1
2	Western Grebe			30	12	16
7	Feral Pigeon	52	3	20	10	8	4
7	Band-tailed Pigeon				3
7	Eurasian Collared-Dove			1
7	Mourning Dove	1	1		4	2	4
8	Anna’s Hummingbird	1	2	2	2	1
8	Allen’s Hummingbird	1	4	3	3	3	3
2	American Coot	245	360	49	73	65	1
5	Black-bellied Plover	166	104	58	25	28	2
5	Killdeer	20	10	2	10	4	2
5	Semipalmated Plover						15
5	Snowy Plover	40	34		15	10
5	Whimbrel	12	9	8	2	8	2
5	Marbled Godwit	9	71	32	1		2
5	Ruddy Turnstone		1	6	5
5	Sanderling	22	22	1		45	2
5	Dunlin						1
5	Least Sandpiper	3	35	12	20	10	50
5	Western Sandpiper	1		1	11	35	30
5	Spotted Sandpiper						6
5	Willet	34	13	15	8	6	2
6	Bonaparte’s Gull		2	1
6	Heermann’s Gull	53	26	45	1	8	15
6	Ring-billed Gull	28	170	40	175	16	65
6	Western Gull	92	85	95	88	95	57
6	California Gull	515	370	925	510	185	35
6	Herring Gull	1		2	1	2
6	Glaucous-winged Gull		2	5	5	8	6
6	Caspian Tern				1	8	12
6	Royal Tern			5	2	35	18
6	Elegant Tern					6	220
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	10	1	6	1	5	1
2	Pelagic Cormorant	4	1	12	3	1	1
2	Double-crested Cormorant	52	39	45	51	33	26
2	Brown Pelican	99	44	110	15	23	68
3	Great Blue Heron	3	4	4	2	1	1
3	Great Egret	1	7	2		5	3
3	Snowy Egret	4	24	6	3	4	1
3	Green Heron		2	1
3	Black-crowned Night-Heron		1	5
4	Turkey Vulture		1		1	5	3
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	1
8	Downy Woodpecker		1
8	Nuttall’s Woodpecker		1
8	Hairy Woodpecker	1
4	Merlin			1
9	Black Phoebe	4	4	4	3	3
9	Say’s Phoebe				1
9	California Scrub-Jay		2	2	3	2	1
9	American Crow	1	7	4	20	6	4
9	Common Raven			1
9	Oak Titmouse			1
9	Tree Swallow			2
9	No. Rough-winged Swallow					2	4
9	Barn Swallow		2			4	8
9	Cliff Swallow						8
9	Bushtit	48		12	4	4	10
9	Wrentit		1			2
9	Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1
9	Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	4	1		2
9	House Wren	1					2
9	Bewick’s Wren		4
9	Northern Mockingbird		1	1		1	1
9	European Starling	31	9	15	30	3	2
9	Hermit Thrush		1	1
9	House Finch	18	8	8	5	15	6
9	Lesser Goldfinch	2	2	4	2		2
9	Dark-eyed Junco		2	4	3
9	White-crowned Sparrow	15	17	35	25	20	2
9	Savannah Sparrow		1
9	Song Sparrow	7	8	6	6	10	7
9	California Towhee	2	4	2	2	2	2
9	Red-winged Blackbird				2		1
9	Brown-headed Cowbird						2
9	Great-tailed Grackle	3	7	1	3	5	2
9	Orange-crowned Warbler	2		1
9	Common Yellowthroat	5	6	3	1	1
9	Yellow-rumped Warbler	19	20	10	6	1
	Totals by Type	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr
1	Waterfowl	49	113	88	52	127	49
2	Water Birds – Other	414	452	1259	164	146	99
3	Herons, Egrets & Ibis	8	38	18	5	10	5
4	Quail & Raptors	3	6	5	5	6	3
5	Shorebirds	307	299	135	97	146	114
6	Gulls & Terns	689	655	1118	783	363	428
7	Doves	53	4	21	17	10	8
8	Other Non-Passerines	3	8	6	6	5	4
9	Passerines	163	107	117	118	81	64
	Totals Birds	1689	1682	2767	1247	894	774
	Total Species	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr
1	Waterfowl	9	10	9	9	9	6
2	Water Birds – Other	7	8	11	11	7	7
3	Herons, Egrets & Ibis	3	5	5	2	3	3
4	Quail & Raptors	3	5	5	5	2	1
5	Shorebirds	9	9	9	9	8	11
6	Gulls & Terns	5	6	8	8	9	8
7	Doves	2	2	2	3	2	2
8	Other Non-Passerines	3	4	3	3	3	2
9	Passerines	16	20	20	17	16	17
	Totals Species – 103	57	69	72	67	59	57