Shorebirds and Checklists: Malibu Lagoon, 25 September 2022

[Chuck Almdale]

Today was hot—for the beach—surf was high and surfers aplenty. Between the virtual Snowy Plover enclosure fence and the water the beach was narrow and a bit crowded. (Not crowded like Coney Island in August, to be sure.)

We still have many of our Mallards and Gadwalls who nested here this year, and the northern-nesting ducks are just beginning to return, as demonstrated by three whole Ruddy Ducks, paddling and diving far across the lagoon. Thus no photo. There were six Pied-billed Grebes, two or three of which were young birds, still downy with bright red, white and black heads. It’s odd for young birds to be more brightly colored than the adults, but that’s PBG’s for you.

Speaking of ducks, I just saw an article in the Los Angeles Times about HPAI, a bird flu virus repeatedly sweeping across the world, hitting primarily birds that live in (sometimes enforced) colonies: in 2014-15 it caused 40 million dead birds in North America; 2021 brought many thousands of dead wild & domestic birds including gannets & puffins; in August 2022 a Fresno poultry farm was hit and all birds had to be euthanized; since then Sacramento and Tuolumne counties have been hit. Right now in California it’s in domestic bird populations in 7 counties and in wild birds, 19 counties. It’s likely to get much worse.

The California Dept. of Food and Agriculture’s Sick Bird Hotline is 866-922-2473. They’re mostly interested in poultry flocks, but they’d probably ought to learn about sick wild birds as well. If there are significantly lower numbers of colonial birds (pelicans, gulls, terns, cormorants, etc.) or wildfowl flocks this winter, you’ll know why. And the price of chicken will rise.

The Night-Herons were gone or, just as likely, hiding deep in the bushes and trees. They’re crepuscular, which means they much prefer twilight (dawn & dusk) rather than full-on night, despite their name, but they will often stay out on cloudy days, and today was a very bright sunny day indeed, not even remotely foggy and gloomy as had been June, July and August. This of course means that we did not see the juvenile Yellow-crowned Night-Heron.

Jim, a regular birder on our lagoon walks since we restarted them last spring, recently cornered me in the parking lot and asked me why the lagoon checklist I hand out to willing takers has far fewer birds listed on it than have been reported to eBird for the lagoon. A reasonable question and I explained as follows.

eBird has reports from hundreds, perhaps thousands of birders over many decades, visiting at all times of the year, on any day of the week and any time of day; these are birders particularly likely to appear when something rare has been found and follow their visit with a report to eBird. As of 9/27/22 eBird has 6,276 lagoon trip reports and 315 species.

I, on the other hand, have been keeping records for my lagoon trips since 21 Oct 1979. I have 303 trips where I censused all the birds and another 88 trips where I only recorded if the species was presence (out of sheer laziness). My total list for these trips is 244 species, including one species for whom we recorded only its presence. Totaled up, I’ve recorded 77% of the eBird species in 6.2% as many trips. I could claim that this proves I’m superbly efficient, but it’s not that, unfortunately. The 71 species I’ve missed on the monthly trips are mostly, if not all, the rare ones that show up for a day and leave. My trips are more of a transect: the same route for roughly the same amount of time on regularly spaced dates by the same person (me) but including birds on the same trip reported to me by others on the same trip.

However, the checklists I hand out show only 140 species, a paltry 44% of the eBird total. Where are the rest? How can I have missed so many? My handout checklist is a physically very small pocket-sized list: 1/4 of one regular sheet of paper, printed both sides and the print is barely discernible. I call it the “Presbyopic’s Dilemma: If you care about what’s on it, you won’t be able to read it; if you can read it, you won’t care what’s on it.” Definitely an ageist remark. However, in it’s defense, it does list every species that shows up at least 3% of the time. Rarer birds are write-ins. I can live with that.

The three birds above—Pectoral Sandpiper, White-faced Ibis and Red Knot—are good examples of this situation, as is the Horned Grebe farther up. Chris Tosdevin who lives not very far from the lagoon is able to drop by there more often that me. (Weekday driving can take me 3 hours each way, whereas on Sunday morning it’s 35-40 minutes. That’s L.A. driving for you.) Thus he was able to photograph these four birds earlier in the week, but by Sunday morning, they had flown the coup (so to speak). These four species are all on my lagoon list from prior visits. But not for today. Alas.

Our Western Snowy Plovers keep accumulating. This time they were within their private roped-in enclosure, undisturbed and resting in their little hollows in the sand, except when a mother and her two small daughters who all thought it a good idea to hop over the fence and run at the birds to get them excited, got them excited. They (the plovers) are reliably here late-June to late-April, and breed elsewhere in May and June. We had 20 last month and 25 today. October averages in the mid-20’s.

But enough of that. Here’s a few more birds we did see.

Two tyrant flycatchers: Black Phoebe (L) & Cassin’s Kingbird (R) (Chris Tosdevin 9-25-22)

Birds new for the season: Ruddy Duck, Anna’s Hummingbird, Sora, Dunlin, Ring-billed Gull, Red-shouldered Hawk, Belted Kingfisher, Peregrine Falcon, Cassin’s Kingbird, Say’s Phoebe, European Starling, Spotted Towhee.  

Malibu Lagoon on eBird as of 9-27-22: 6276 lists, 315 species

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

Upcoming SMBAS scheduled field trips: Huntington Beach Central Park, Sat. Oct. 15 8:30 am, Malibu Lagoon, Sun Oct. 23  8:30 am; Ballona Fresh Water Marsh, Sat. Nov 12  8 am. These and any other trip we announce for the foreseeable future will be dependent upon the expected status of the Covid pandemic at trip time. Any trip announced may be canceled shortly before trip date if it seems necessary. By now any other comments should be superfluous.

The next SMBAS program: “Evolution of Feather Color in the Tanagers” with Allison Shultz. Hybrid Zoom Evening Meeting, Tuesday, 1 November 2022, 7:30 p.m. We will continue to Zoom our programs for the foreseeable future.

The SMBAS 10 a.m. Parent’s & Kids Birdwalk is currently under discussion concerning its resumption.

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 2022: Jan-June
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 with 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 2022	4/24	5/22	6/26	7/24	8/28	9/25
	Temperature	72-75	61-66	65-70	70-73	72-79	72-79
	Tide Lo/Hi Height	H+4.50	L-0.32	H+3.33	H+3.35	H+4.49	H+5.01
	Tide Time	0442	1029	0943	0909	1102	0949
1	(Black) Brant		6
1	Canada Goose	3
1	Gadwall	26	25	15	25	22	26
1	American Wigeon	1	2
1	Mallard	14	15	35	80	65	28
1	Green-winged Teal	2
1	Surf Scoter	3
1	Ruddy Duck						3
2	Pied-billed Grebe	1		1	2	4	6
2	Eared Grebe	1
7	Feral Pigeon	4	6	8	17	10	6
7	Band-tailed Pigeon			1
7	Mourning Dove	4		2	2	5
8	Anna’s Hummingbird		1				1
8	Allen’s Hummingbird	3	1	2	3	3
2	Sora						1
2	American Coot	1	4	4	8	12	47
5	Black-bellied Plover	2	1		17	79	67
5	Killdeer	2	3	3	6	5	7
5	Semipalmated Plover	15			1	15	3
5	Snowy Plover				13	20	25
5	Whimbrel	2		3	88	37	15
5	Long-billed Curlew					1
5	Marbled Godwit	2			1	6	21
5	Ruddy Turnstone				3	4	3
5	Black Turnstone					2
5	Sanderling	2				25	14
5	Dunlin	1					1
5	Least Sandpiper	50			8	10	23
5	Western Sandpiper	30			1	25	8
5	Short-billed Dowitcher					2
5	Long-billed Dowitcher				1
5	Spotted Sandpiper	6	1			1	1
5	Willet	2			7	48	73
5	Red-necked Phalarope		1			1	2
6	Heermann’s Gull	15	4	27	5	2	9
6	Ring-billed Gull	65					2
6	Western Gull	57	95	55	145	53	72
6	California Gull	35	33	3	3	21	57
6	Glaucous-winged Gull	6			1
6	Caspian Tern	12	15	22	18
6	Forster’s Tern				1
6	Royal Tern	18	3	3	25	6	1
6	Elegant Tern	220	24		475	255
6	Black Skimmer					3
2	Brandt’s Cormorant	1	50
2	Pelagic Cormorant	1	2		2	1
2	Double-crested Cormorant	26	22	46	62	68	56
2	Brown Pelican	68	65	126	85	112	64
3	Great Blue Heron	1	2	3	5	2	3
3	Great Egret	3	2	4	3	3	1
3	Snowy Egret	1	1	2	12	14	9
3	Reddish Egret				1
3	Black-crowned Night-Heron			4	8	2
4	Yellow-crowned Night-Heron					1
4	Turkey Vulture	3	4	4		1
4	Osprey			1	1
4	Red-shouldered Hawk						1
8	Belted Kingfisher	1					1
4	Peregrine Falcon						1
9	Cassin’s Kingbird						3
9	Black Phoebe		2	5	4	5	5
9	Say’s Phoebe						1
9	California Scrub-Jay	1		1	3	2	2
9	American Crow	4	4	5	1	17	3
9	Common Raven		2
9	Oak Titmouse				2
9	Violet-green Swallow					1
9	No. Rough-winged Swallow	4	8		1	4
9	Barn Swallow	8	15	20	30	28
9	Cliff Swallow	8	4		3	1
9	Bushtit	10		8	10	15	8
9	Wrentit		2		1		1
9	House Wren	2		1	1	1	2
9	Bewick’s Wren					1	1
9	Northern Mockingbird	1		1	3		1
9	European Starling	2	1				8
9	House Finch	6	12	10	12	8	4
9	Lesser Goldfinch	2		1		3	6
9	White-crowned Sparrow	2
9	Song Sparrow	7	10	4	2	6	3
9	California Towhee	2	2	1		1
9	Spotted Towhee						1
9	Red-winged Blackbird	1			6	25
9	Brown-headed Cowbird	2	1
9	Great-tailed Grackle	2	1	6	6	4
9	Orange-crowned Warbler					1	2
9	Common Yellowthroat				2	4	5
	Totals by Type	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep
1	Waterfowl	49	48	50	105	87	57
2	Water Birds – Other	99	143	177	159	197	174
3	Herons, Egrets & Ibis	5	5	13	29	22	13
4	Quail & Raptors	3	4	5	1	1	2
5	Shorebirds	114	6	6	146	281	263
6	Gulls & Terns	428	174	110	673	340	141
7	Doves	8	6	11	19	15	6
8	Other Non-Passerines	4	2	2	3	3	2
9	Passerines	64	64	63	87	127	56
	Totals Birds	774	452	437	1222	1073	714
	Total Species	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep
1	Waterfowl	6	4	2	2	2	3
2	Water Birds – Other	7	5	4	5	5	5
3	Herons, Egrets & Ibis	3	3	4	5	5	3
4	Quail & Raptors	1	1	2	1	1	2
5	Shorebirds	11	4	2	11	16	14
6	Gulls & Terns	8	6	5	8	6	5
7	Doves	2	1	3	2	2	1
8	Other Non-Passerines	2	2	1	1	1	2
9	Passerines	17	13	12	16	18	17
	Totals Species – 88	57	39	35	51	56	52