Christmas Day, Malibu Lagoon, 25 December 2022

[Chuck Almdale]

Oddly enough, no one seemed to mind that it was Christmas Day.

The temperatures were exceptionally nice for Christmas Day: 65°F when we got there, 72° when we left. [A week later they were 20° lower.] Tide was high, +6.59 ft. at 9:50 am., dropping from the King Tide highs of 6.84 ft. the day before, and 6.86 ft. the day before that. In case anyone is wondering and as you can see by the chart below, the “King Low Tides” (to coin a phrase) of the year occur right after the highs.

The total species count was not especially high — only 55 species, 10 less than last month, with most of the drop in the passerines and the gull/tern groups. I should mention that the gull count could easily have been triple the 658 you’ll see below. Before we got to the disappearing beach and as the tide was rising, large flocks of California Gulls — at least 1,000 birds — kept lifting off the beach and heading inland.

The highlight of the day was the five Hooded Mergansers Chris Lord spotted on the inland side of PCH bridge and waved at us to come and see. The water is a bit deeper in this spot and diving ducks — Mergansers, Ruddys and Buffleheads tend to prefer it, particularly the Hooded Mergansers. They don’t show up often — 18 times out of 306 count days over 40+ years — and when they do, they often never swim south into the main lagoon.

The water level hit 7’4.8″ on the sidewalk tidal clock. Most of the time we were there, water flowed oceanward. Lack of sand and mud around the channel and lagoon edges didn’t leave much for the sandpipers to do, and they huddled together in various places. In the driftwood pile around the “Osprey Pole” there were a dozen each of Killdeer and Least Sandpipers.

On the west end of one sand island over 30 Snowy Egrets gathered, plus some Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons. You wouldn’t know from the photos below that the Great Blue Heron was 22″ taller than the Snowy Egret. Some people have wondered aloud to me how the Snowy Egret changes its leg color while they’re watching it. Answer is, he doesn’t! Black on the front and yellow on the rear is common much of the year.

You can see Orange-crowned Warblers every year for 40 years and never see their orange crown, which they use as a signal to rival males and potential mates. I think I’ve seen it once, but it was so long ago that I’m no longer certain. A few of these birds hang around all winter in SoCal.

The Brown Pelican above is far along into its breeding plumage (male & female look the same), but it has not yet developed a bright-red gular pouch. The first-year Double-crested Cormorant above has a white border at the base of its lower mandible and a short section of white along the upper. The Neotropic Cormorant also has white edging with a bit more white between the gape and the back of the eye. But it is dark above/in front of the eye, whereas the Double-crested, like the one above, has yellow skin. The Neotropic’ gular pouch is a duller yellow, the back feathers are more pointed and the tail is proportionally longer. The Neotropic also has a more acute angle at gape, whereas the DC has a rounded gape. A fine distinction – check your field guide. If you lucky enough to find them standing side-by-side, the 26″ Neotropic is 20% smaller than the 32″ Double-crested. I mention all this because Neotropics are spreading northward through SoCal and it’s easy to confuse the two.

From a distance the male Gadwall is a rather boring gray-brown-black bird. Up close you can see the fine vermiculations that make it one of the most beautiful of ducks. Red-breasted Mergansers are common at the lagoon in winter. Most look like the above as the young look like the females until their alternate (breeding) plumage grows out in the spring. The much-less-common (at the lagoon) Common Merganser female & young differ primarily in the chin and neck.

Song Sparrows were singing up a storm. Two were having a rattle-battle in the brush — something I’d never heard before.

This is a nice example of a winter adult Ring-billed Gull. The dark bill-ring is obvious — not always true as the bill starts dark in the juvenile and by 1st winter has shrunk to the entire tip. They have a gonys (that bump on the lower bill) but it’s not big; sometimes it’s nearly absent, at which point you begin to wonder if you have a Small-billed Gull (formerly Mew). The mantle is pale gray, like the 20% larger California Gull (CaGu), and the black wing-tips have white mirrors, also like the CaGu. The eye is dark for a year, then becomes light, whereas the CaGu eye stays dark. The legs can be bright yellow in breeding, dull yellow in winter. The crown and nape are lightly streaked & spotted with brown, whereas the CaGu has a heavier brown wash. Despite all these theoretically-obvious differences, I still have difficulty telling Ring-billed from California Gull.

Birds new for the season: Hooded Merganser, Horned Grebe, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Merlin, Wrentit, Orange-crowned Warbler, Townsend’s Warbler.

Eared Grebes have a dingier neck-front than Horned Grebes. Also a pointier crown, an often slightly-fluffed tail than doesn’t slope gently down to the water (thanks to Chris Lord for that point), the bill is slightly upturned, and the white patch on the side/back of the neck is usually disconnected to a quite variable degree from any white on the chin or throat. They are also a whopping 7.4% smaller! And a lot more common in SoCal! Nevertheless, the two are often confused.

Malibu Lagoon on eBird as of 1-4-23: 6941 lists, 317 species

Many thanks to photographers: Lynzie Flynn & Lillian Johnson

Upcoming SMBAS scheduled field trips:
THE ANTELOPE VALLEY TRIP 14 JAN WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY BE CANCELED DUE TO RAIN-SODDEN ROAD EDGES!
Antelope Valley Raptor Search, Sat. Jan 14, 7 am departure time; Malibu Lagoon, Sun Jan. 22 8:30 am; Madrona Marsh, Sat. Feb 11, 8 am; Malibu Lagoon, Sun Feb 26 8:30 am These and any other trips we announce for the foreseeable future will be dependent upon the expected status of the Covid/flu/etc. 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. Link to Programs & Field Trip schedule.

The next SMBAS program: To-be-announced, Evening Meeting, Tuesday, 7 February 2023, 7:30 p.m.. This program will probably be on Zoom.

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 Lynzie Flynn, Lillian Johnson, Chris Lord and others for their contributions to this month’s checklist.

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	7/24	8/28	9/25	10/23	11/27	12/25
	Temperature	70-73	72-79	72-79	61-73	54-62	65-72
	Tide Lo/Hi Height	H+3.35	H+4.49	H+5.01	H+5.33	H+6.04	H+6.59
	Tide Time	0909	1102	0949	0839	1045	0950
1	Gadwall	25	22	26	18	8	16
1	American Wigeon					14	8
1	Mallard	80	65	28	12	16	6
1	Northern Pintail				1
1	Green-winged Teal				2	6	38
1	Lesser Scaup					1
1	Surf Scoter					12	3
1	Bufflehead					11	11
1	Hooded Merganser						5
1	Red-breasted Merganser					25	7
1	Ruddy Duck			3	35	32	42
2	Pied-billed Grebe	2	4	6	8	4	5
2	Horned Grebe						1
2	Eared Grebe				2	8	5
2	Western Grebe				2	4	1
7	Feral Pigeon	17	10	6	15	4	6
7	Mourning Dove	2	5		4	2
8	Anna’s Hummingbird			1		1	2
8	Allen’s Hummingbird	3	3			2
2	Sora			1	1
2	American Coot	8	12	47	145	85	130
5	Black-bellied Plover	17	79	67	64	83	51
5	Killdeer	6	5	7	2	31	11
5	Semipalmated Plover	1	15	3	2
5	Snowy Plover	13	20	25	39	18
5	Whimbrel	88	37	15	5	35	9
5	Long-billed Curlew		1
5	Marbled Godwit	1	6	21	6	38	23
5	Ruddy Turnstone	3	4	3	4	4	2
5	Black Turnstone		2
5	Sanderling		25	14	33	45	27
5	Dunlin			1
5	Least Sandpiper	8	10	23	15	62	19
5	Western Sandpiper	1	25	8	4	8	4
5	Short-billed Dowitcher		2
5	Long-billed Dowitcher	1
5	Spotted Sandpiper		1	1
5	Willet	7	48	73	9	43	15
5	Red-necked Phalarope		1	2
6	Heermann’s Gull	5	2	9	8	16	85
6	Short-billed Gull					1
6	Ring-billed Gull			2	22	28	55
6	Western Gull	145	53	72	64	105	68
6	California Gull	3	21	57	155	390	450
6	Glaucous-winged Gull	1				3
6	Caspian Tern	18
6	Forster’s Tern	1			1
6	Royal Tern	25	6	1	12	3
6	Elegant Tern	475	255		15
6	Black Skimmer		3
2	Common Loon					1
2	Black-vented Shearwater					100
2	Pelagic Cormorant	2	1		1	4	1
2	Double-crested Cormorant	62	68	56	51	45	62
2	Brown Pelican	85	112	64	65	220	158
3	Great Blue Heron	5	2	3	3	3	5
3	Great Egret	3	3	1	2	5	3
3	Snowy Egret	12	14	9	9	31	35
3	Reddish Egret	1
3	Green Heron				1
3	Black-crowned Night-Heron	8	2			1	1
4	Yellow-crowned Night-Heron		1
4	Turkey Vulture		1		1	1	1
4	Osprey	1
4	Red-shouldered Hawk			1
4	Red-tailed Hawk						3
8	Belted Kingfisher			1		2
4	American Kestrel						1
4	Merlin						1
4	Peregrine Falcon			1
9	Cassin’s Kingbird			3		1	1
9	Black Phoebe	4	5	5	3	3	2
9	Say’s Phoebe			1
9	California Scrub-Jay	3	2	2	1	1	1
9	American Crow	1	17	3	8	12	3
9	Oak Titmouse	2			2
9	Violet-green Swallow		1
9	Northern Rough-winged Swallow	1	4
9	Barn Swallow	30	28
9	Cliff Swallow	3	1
9	Bushtit	10	15	8	10	2	15
9	Wrentit	1		1			2
9	Ruby-crowned Kinglet					2	1
9	Blue-gray Gnatcatcher					2
9	House Wren	1	1	2	1	2
9	Marsh Wren				1
9	Bewick’s Wren		1	1		2
9	Northern Mockingbird	3		1
9	European Starling			8
9	Hermit Thrush					3
9	House Finch	12	8	4	15	18	16
9	Lesser Goldfinch		3	6	1	6
9	White-crowned Sparrow				12	40	16
9	Song Sparrow	2	6	3	3	6
9	California Towhee		1		3	6	1
9	Spotted Towhee			1		1
9	Red-winged Blackbird	6	25		4	3	8
9	Great-tailed Grackle	6	4		5	1
9	Orange-crowned Warbler		1	2			1
9	Common Yellowthroat	2	4	5	3	2	1
9	Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s)				4	16	15
9	Townsend’s Warbler						1
	Totals by Type	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1	Waterfowl	105	87	57	68	125	136
2	Water Birds – Other	159	197	174	275	471	363
3	Herons, Egrets & Ibis	29	22	13	15	40	44
4	Quail & Raptors	1	1	2	1	1	6
5	Shorebirds	146	281	263	183	367	161
6	Gulls & Terns	673	340	141	277	546	658
7	Doves	19	15	6	19	6	6
8	Other Non-Passerines	3	3	2	0	5	2
9	Passerines	87	127	56	76	129	84
	Totals Birds	1222	1073	714	914	1690	1460
	Total Species	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1	Waterfowl	2	2	3	5	9	9
2	Water Birds – Other	5	5	5	8	9	8
3	Herons, Egrets & Ibis	5	5	3	4	4	4
4	Quail & Raptors	1	1	2	1	1	4
5	Shorebirds	11	16	14	11	10	9
6	Gulls & Terns	8	6	5	7	7	4
7	Doves	2	2	1	2	2	1
8	Other Non-Passerines	1	1	2	0	3	1
9	Passerines	16	18	17	16	20	15
	Totals Species – 102	51	56	52	54	65	55