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Bette Davis Park & Glendale Narrows Riverwalk, 10 Jan. 2026
[Chuck Almdale; photos by Chris Tosdevin, and Marquette Mutchler]
(Chris Tosdevin, Los Angeles River, 1-13-24)
Perhaps because this is a low point in the east end of the San Fernando Valley it’s a bit cooler here, next to the Los Angeles River as it moves southward towards downtown L.A.. It was 46°F at 8am and climbed all the way to 63° by 11am. A bit windy too, and the rustling leaves and quivering grass made it a little harder spotting the smaller passerines, but of course had no noticeable affect on the birds in the riverbed.
We had no photographers present, so the photos in this posting are from previous postings, most by Chris Tosdevin at our prior Bette Davis & Riverwalk field trip on 13 Jan. 2024.
As with last year, the first birds was a large mixed flock of Red-winged and Brewer’s Blackbirds and European Starlings. But the loud squawks of a pair of Lilac-crowned Amazons (formerly Lilac-crowned Parrots) in the nearby sycamores were too enticing to ignore for long.
It’s been recently discovered that Red-crowned and Lilac-crowned Amazons have been hybridizing in our area. These two species are closely related, but in the wild they live in separate regions, don’t meet and don’t hybridize. When they were imported to L.A. and escaped captivity in sufficient numbers, they didn’t see enough of a difference between themselves, began mating and – voilà – hybrids appeared. We posted an article and link about this event last month, based on work done by the Moore lab at nearby Occidental College . The Bette Davis pair look like Lilac-crowned to me; although the lilac is not stunningly obvious, it’s certainly not red. And as with all the Amazona species, when they fly their wingbeats are very shallow and rapid. Other parrots don’t fly like this, so you can quickly narrow a poorly-seen parrot flying in this manner down to this genus.
This portion of the L.A. River channel does not have a cement bottom and a lot of birds appreciate the dirt bottom; the channel islands are well rooted, making it much birdier than most other sections of the river channel which are entirely cement. I was surprised to see that our recent 9″ of rain hadn’t appeared to affected these islands at all, other than strewing pieces of plastic and a few remnants of furniture onto them. Black-necked Stilts are very reliable here and are scattered all up and down the channel, although about 75% were downstream of the long brushy sand island at the Glendale Narrows Riverwalk section which goes under the #5 freeway. Just like in prior years.
Our entire route, all on the north (upper) side of the river channel can be followed on the satellite photo below. Starting at Bette Davis Picnic, eastward through Bette Davis Park towards Riverside Dr., south through a fence gate to the concrete walk along the river, westward to where two river branches come together below where it says Rancho Ave. back through the park to the cars, drive across Riverside to Garden, then south towards the river, walk around the streetside park to the west entrance of the Glendale Narrows Riverwalk, then eastward and under the #5 freeway to where the river bends to the right, then back to the car. From the west entrance to Riverwalk, it’s 15 minutes of steady walking to the river bend.
(Chris Tosdevin 1/13/24)
All along this stretch are the vegetated islands, with plenty of rocky areas in between. Birds in the channel tended to stay close to these long narrow islands, and the eastern (downstream) ends of these islands were particularly good for birds. The Greater Yellowlegs was at the east end of the island running under Riverside Drive while the Blue-winged Teal were all at the east end of the island under the #5 freeway. The Spotted Sandpipers were all widely separated solo birds, poking about along the edges of the various islands. Low damp areas likely for snipe were diligently checked, but none were seen.
note the long brush- & tree-covered islands in the stream. (Google Maps)
The freeways provide a constant background of traffic, a rushing roar or “wall of sound” with few discernible individual sounds, much like birding next to a large waterfall like Niagara or Iguazú. Surprisingly, perhaps, you could still hear plenty of birds like the Black Phoebes in the branches, Yellow-rumped Warblers in the grass and Crows and Ravens overhead. The flock of blackbirds and starlings whistled and croaked, while ducks in the river whistled and quacked.
2nd-most-common bird (Chris Tosdevin, L.A. River 1-13-24)
When you walk the Narrows Riverwalk under the #5 freeway, it’s like passing through the gates of Hades, with ominous discordant groans falling from the roadway above and piteous shrill cries from Good Lord Knows What. Be forewarned, but do not despair. As the south end of the south island usually has some uncommon ducks, as with today’s sleeping Blue-winged Teal and active Buffleheads diving, one feels compelled to go and check anyway.
(Chris Tosdevin, L.A. River, 1-13-24)
Today’s Ring-necked Duck was a female, so the above photo of a male will have to suffice.
This is a good birding spot for a place surrounded by city and “freeway-close.” I suspect that in the spring it functions as a small oasis for passerines passing through our concrete jungle, and the L.A. River channel provides a migration route for waterbirds in both fall and spring.
(Chris Tosdevin 1-13-24)
The lists below combine sightings from both locations, which are adjacent and have nearly the same species.
| Bette Davis Picnic Park & Glendale Narrows Riverwalk | |||
| 1/10/26 | 1/18/25 | 1/13/24 | |
| Canada Goose | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Egyptian Goose | 4 | 1 | |
| Blue-winged Teal | 7 | 3 | |
| Cinnamon Teal | 3 | ||
| Gadwall | 2 | ||
| American Wigeon | 206 | 200 | 20 |
| Mallard | 96 | 30 | 25 |
| Green-winged Teal | 2 | 2 | |
| Ring-necked Duck | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| Bufflehead | 8 | 6 | 5 |
| Feral Pigeon | 20 | 30 | 18 |
| Eurasian Collared-Dove | 4 | 20 | 4 |
| Mourning Dove | 30 | 6 | 6 |
| White-throated Swift | 10 | 15 | |
| Anna’s Hummingbird | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Allen’s Hummingbird | 2 | 1 | |
| American Coot | 55 | 70 | 25 |
| Black-necked Stilt | 270 | 400 | 100 |
| Killdeer | 4 | 6 | |
| Wilson’s Snipe | 3 | ||
| Spotted Sandpiper | 4 | 5 | 2 |
| Lesser Yellowlegs | 1 | ||
| Greater Yellowlegs | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Peeps | 100 | ||
| Ring-billed Gull | 3 | 1 | |
| Western Gull | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Gull sp | 24 | ||
| Pied-billed Grebe | 6 | ||
| Double-crested Cormorant | 7 | 3 | |
| Black-crowned Night Heron | 16 | ||
| Snowy Egret | 1 | 1 | |
| Great Egret | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Great Blue Heron | 3 | 6 | 1 |
| Turkey Vulture | 2 | 2 | |
| Osprey | 1 | ||
| Cooper’s Hawk | 2 | ||
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 1 | ||
| Red-tailed Hawk | 2 | 2 | |
| Acorn Woodpecker | 5 | 8 | 8 |
| Downy Woodpecker | 1 | ||
| Nuttall’s Woodpecker | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Northern Flicker | 1 | ||
| Merlin | 2 | ||
| Lilac-crowned Parrot | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Black Phoebe | 15 | 10 | 6 |
| Say’s Phoebe | 1 | 1 | |
| Hutton’s Vireo | 1 | ||
| California Scrub-Jay | 2 | ||
| American Crow | 14 | 6 | 6 |
| Common Raven | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| Oak Titmouse | 3 | ||
| Bushtit | 8 | 6 | |
| Wrentit | 1 | ||
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 3 | 8 | 4 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch | 2 | 1 | |
| European Starling | 23 | 40 | 20 |
| Northern Mockingbird | 1 | ||
| Western Bluebird | 18 | 4 | |
| American Robin | 1 | ||
| House Sparrow | 1 | 10 | 5 |
| American Pipit | 1 | ||
| House Finch | 2 | 8 | |
| Lesser Goldfinch | 2 | 4 | |
| Chipping Sparrow | 6 | ||
| Lark Sparrow | 3 | ||
| Dark-eyed Junco | 1 | 6 | |
| White-crowned Sparrow | 4 | ||
| Song Sparrow | 1 | 3 | |
| California Towhee | 1 | 1 | |
| Red-winged Blackbird | 8 | 80 | |
| Brewer’s Blackbird | 28 | 40 | 8 |
| Great-tailed Grackle | 1 | ||
| Orange-crowned Warbler | 1 | ||
| Common Yellowthroat | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler | 33 | 40 | 20 |
| Total species – 75 | 47 | 48 | 57 |
| Total birds | 921 | 1206 | 410 |
Fire-setting Hawks | BBC Discover
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
Firestarter: They set the land ablaze from the sky – and then wait for their prey to run
by Helen Pilcher, 11 Jan 2026
Humans may not be the only species to deliberately control fire. Birds of prey have been observed picking up burning sticks from wildfires, then using them to ignite new fires so they can feast on the animals that flee.
This article about raptors in the Northern Territory of Australia reminded me of a similar event we personally witnessed.
Decades ago while driving through the Kimberley region of far northwest Australia, we drove past a slow-moving grass fire, not uncommon in this grassy region with very sparse bushy vegetation. Along it’s very narrow (5-20 ft. front-to back) front, above the flames and “kiting” along the long rising plume of smoke were several kites, I forget which of the five local kite species they were. They were darting down to the ground, both in front of the flames and behind them. When we mentioned this later to one of the local birdos, he said this was common in the outback; birds, primarily if not exclusively raptors, hunting along the flame fronts, both for small creatures fleeing the flames, and for now-roasted creatures, primarily large insects, left behind on the smoking ground. This seemed very clever. We didn’t see the kites carrying burning sticks, but I can easily believe they’ve figured this out.
Laughing Gulls show their faces
[Written by Chuck Almdale, photos by Marie Barnidge-McIntyre, Femi Faminu & Armando Martinez]
Marie Barnidge-McIntyre was birding at Malibu Lagoon on Sunday, 4 Jan 2026, when she spotted a small gull with black bill, black legs, very dark wings and a dark smudge on the side of the face. She concluded it was a Laughing Gull.
Unfortunately, a beach-saunterer came along just then, walked right up to the bird and off it flew.
But, it landed and Marie rushed over to get a photo, when up came the beach-saunterer and again scared it away. Frustration, thy name is rare-bird-on-the-beach-photography. This time it flew off to the far side of the lagoon outlet channel, uncrossable and bone-chilling cold, so Marie headed back to the highway and the bridge over the creek and back up to the beach next to the pier. Along the way she ran into Femi Faminu, another member of SMBAS, and off they went to re-re-find the gull. They were successful and here’s the proof.
I received only one photo from Marie, but Femi sent me a few additional shots of the same bird. Even the chunk of kelp below the bird’s tail is the same chunk of kelp, and the algae-green angled rock is the same rock. Only the water level changed, due to waves.
I believe they also ran into Walter Lamb while looking at the bird. I checked eBird and found this photo of two Laughing Gulls, same place and time. I lifted the photo below from his eBird checklist. I hope he doesn’t mind.
I think the right-hand bird is the same individual as Marie & Femi’s bird because of the funny striping eye-to-eye over the crown. Walter also had seven Black Oystercatchers, which must be a record for the lagoon.
Laughing Gulls aren’t really rare, maybe terribly uncommon is a better descriptor. They regularly spend the off-breeding season on the west coast of Baja California, and it’s not all that far from mid-Baja to SoCal, but they just don’t seem to make the trip very often. In this case, it seemed to take a heavy multi-day atmospheric-river-caused rainstorm to motivate one (or more) to fly north. We’ve never seen one at the lagoon on our hundreds of SMBAS monthly walks. In fact, eBird lists only seven sighting of Laughing Gull at Malibu Lagoon, and five of those were of this bird on this day.
But they do show up in Southern and Middle California from time-to-time as you can see below.
As luck would have it, this was not the only sighting. The following day Armando Martinez spotted one down at Ballona Creek, adjacent to the Marina del Rey main channel. Take a look at the photos below.
This is not the same bird as the one Marie and Femi saw. Especially notable are the differences in the dark areas on head, neck and breast.
Could Armando’s bird been Walter Lamb’s second bird, or is this a third bird?
It probably doesn’t mean anything, but we seem to have had an recent rash of uncommon small gull sightings at the lagoon. For example:
Sep 28 2025: Sabine’s Gull 13.5″
Nov 23 2025: Boneparte’s Gull 13.5″
Dec 28 2025: Short-billed Gull 16-18.5″
Jan 4 2026: Laughing Gull 16.5″
Maybe we should keep our eyes open for Little, Ross’s, Franklin’s and Ivory Gulls. Especially the Little Gull.
What were the first birds like? | NHM London
[Posted By Chuck Almdale]
The Natural History Museum of London is not merely one of the great natural history museums of the world, they also have a great website with a ton of information. And…they had a major exhibition last year on the evolution of birds, of which the following short article is a great overview.
What were the first birds like?
By Emma Caton
From the article:
Bird-like creatures have been around for more than 150 million years, since the Late Jurassic Period. But what about modern birds? The earliest animal that’s undisputedly considered a bird would be the most recent common ancestor of all living birds. We think this ancestor lived during the Late Cretaceous Period, around 100 to 85 million years ago. Although it may not have looked exactly like any species alive today, it would’ve had the hallmark features of a living bird, such as feathers, the ability to fly, hollow bones and a toothless beak.The earliest uncontroversial modern bird fossil discovered so far is Asteriornis maastrichtensis – more popularly called the wonderchicken. Fossils of the wonderchicken date to 66.7 million years ago, just 700,000 years before the mass extinction that killed off the non-avian dinosaurs. The wonderchicken is thought to have been a small, ground-dwelling bird that could reproduce quickly and fly, which may have helped it to survive the extinction event. “The wonderchicken seems to be the most unambiguous early representative of Neornithes – the group that includes all modern birds – that we’ve found so far,” says Daniel Field, Professor of Paleontology. “As it had the full complement of bird-like features that we see today, we know that all of these features must have evolved by the end of the Cretaceous.”
The model pictured below is the “wonderchicken,” the ancestor of all our modern birds except those in the oldest clade Paleognathes (“old jaw”), comprised of ostriches, rheas, tinamous, cassowaries, emu and kiwis. All other extant birds are members of the clade (currently infraclass) Neognathe (“new jaw”). See the partial cladogram farther below, illustrating the relationships.
This bird is the ancestral Neognath, Asteriornis maastrichtensis, popularly known as the Wonderchicken. I love our current understanding that the ancestors of all birds were the dinosaurs. The idea that there are small dinosaurs in our back yard, prowling around and looking for seeds and fruit and small insects to eat, chirping and singing in our trees and building nests on the tree limbs and above our windows, delights me immensely.
When I look closely at Wonderchicken, I see elements of many later-appearing orders: certainly ducks and chickens, which were the first to split from the rest of Neognathe, and grebes and doves and sandpipers. Definitely the rails; it could almost pass for a Sora. But also the ground-dwelling species of passerines like the tapaculos and ant-thrushes, even the more-chunky of our sparrows, like the ones in our backyard.
The cladogram below illustrates the first 19 of our currently recognized 41 orders of birds, and the location of the beginning of the Neognathae is circled. The vertical red dashed line represents the extinction event separating the Cretaceous from the Paleogene era, approximately 66 million years ago. The complete cladogram of all 41 orders was presented in a blog I posted in September 2024. If you missed this blog series, it’s a good place to learn more about the evolution and taxonomy of birds.
Low Water at Malibu Lagoon, 28 Dec. 2025
[By Chuck Almdale; photos by Marie Barnidge-McIntyre, Femi Faminu, Ray Juncosa & Armando Martinez]
Getting to and from Malibu Lagoon is sometimes tricky. I usually take the 405 to the 101 through San Fernando Valley to Las Virgenes Rd. and over the hills to Pacific Coast Hwy (PCH), but several traffic websites informed me that Las Virgenes Rd. no longer existed and I must take the 405 to the 10 to PCH to get there. One site acknowledged its continued existence but claimed road closure. The two routes are virtually the same distance but the latter is much slower due to the 25 MPH reconstruction zones resulting from our massive “fire event” last January, and less vegetated. Our roadways are partially funded by traffic ticket sales, so speeding citations are eagerly distributed and I know people who’ve been ticketed exceeding 25 MPH on PCH. I poked along at exactly 25 mph (three cheers for cruise control!) for what seemed like hours while everyone else ripped past me, blowing their horns or shaking their fists. Not a cop or road worker in sight the entire distance. Of course it was 7:30 am on a Sunday and everyone except birders were asleep, or in church, or both.
Even so, I arrived early. I headed up past the first lookout point and under the PCH bridge to look for diving birds in the deep water. Sure enough, Grebes, Coots, Buffleheads and Ruddy Ducks, plus a male Belted Kingfisher who was resting in a tree. The water was very low and I nearly got stuck in the exposed mud while exploring new routes.
On my way back I bumped into Marie, sent to hunt me down and get the trip started. I later asked if her legs were stabbed by the prickly bushes (see above photo). “Yes,” she said, succinctly. “Of course!” she undoubtedly thought.
The lagoon water level was very low. “I’ve never seen it this low!” someone always exclaims during these events, never the same person twice. Actually, sea level was not particularly low, moving from the high of +4.81 ft @ 3:38am to the low of +1.35 ft @ 10:47am. But the rains had carved out a nice channel through the beach and every drop of lagoon and creek water that could run out was running out. This created a strong current under the PCH bridge and the Mallards and Coots were enjoying ‘shooting the rapids’ backwards.
Our lowest low tides of the year are negative, for example:
Six days of negative tides centered on the 20 Nov. low of -0.32 ft
Seven negative lows centered on the 5 Dec. low of -1.68 ft
Nine negative lows centered on the 3 Jan 2026 low of -1.80 ft
Nine negative lows centered on the 18 Jan low of -0.91 ft
Eight negative lows centered on the 31 Jan low of -1.65 ft.
Even June has negative tides: nine negative lows centered on 15 June low of -1.80 ft. But when the lagoon outlet is closed, as it usually is in summer, the lagoon fills up from the creek. The ocean tides then become irrelevant. [Tide chart link]
As usual, a few gulls, cormorants, coots, plovers and ducks were gathered near the first viewpoint next to the PCH bridge. For the second month running a single American Herring Gull was occupying the same spot at the southern end of the nearby gull flock.
(Marie Barnidge-McIntyre 12-28-25)
Here’s a short gallery of our longer-billed birds.
And some energetic Gadwalls. You rarely get to see the lovely chestnut in the upperwing secondary coverts, These feathers are hidden when they’re on the ground, and hard to see on a wildly flapping wing.
Once landed, you never know what they’ll get up to.
At the west end of the channels, the ducks were more wading than swimming.
Down by the sea’s edge the usually hidden rocky reefs were exposed. As the sea level dropped, more and more gulls and shorebirds were attracted to them, including this small flock of Royal Terns. Their crown feathers are erectable, and a variety of positions are shown below. Their bills are generally orange, but can vary from deep orange/near red, to dull yellow-orange. If you look closely at the bill underside, some of them show a very small ‘gonydeal angle.’ The confusingly similar Elegant Tern never has this angle.
Something is definitely happening thataway.
We’ve had discussions about the behavior shown below, whether it’s a young bird begging for food, or a courtship element where one bird elicits food-bringing behavior from the other to see if they respond properly and thus might make a good mate. The all-knowing Google AI informed me that: “Juveniles stay with their parents for months after fledging, migrating and continuing to beg for fish into winter, sometimes even into late winter or early spring, a behavior seen in Florida and other coastal areas.” This sounds right to me, particularly as December is really early to be doing courtship rituals, but not all that late to be pestering one’s parents for handouts (billouts?) What?…You thought it was only humans that had this problem?
The water had gone so far out that it was about 50 yards from the wrack line of rotting sea vegetation on the sand to the rocks by the water’s edge. Western Snowy Plovers usually display a rather intermittent manner of walking, but this one took off at full speed over this entire stretch of sand. I think it felt exposed on the featureless flat surface and was wary of danger from above. It’s the farthest I’ve ever seen one run nonstop.
Four days later at an even lower tide, SMBAS member Lu Plauzoles had six Black Oystercatchers. We’ve never had more than five (once) on our lagoon trips, and and have had four birds five times. Most sightings (61 birds in 29 sightings) are singletons.
While searching through the rocky reefs for interesting birds I managed to completely miss this gull in the lagoon. What do you think it is? Look closely at plumage and bill.
Not to hold the suspense too long, it’s a Short-billed Gull Larus brachyrhynchus. When I began birding, and until recently (as in the NGS bird field guide 6th edition, 2011) it was a Mew Gull Larus canus, and considered a subspecies of the European Common Gull Larus canus. I’ve also heard Small-billed and Little-billed bandied about, just to add extra confusion.
Some taxonomic history:
The species was first described by Scottish naturalist John Richardson in 1831 as the “short-billed mew gull”, Larus brachyrhynchus. Since 1931 the AOU and some other authorities have considered brachyrhynchus to be a subspecies of Common Gull Larus canus, described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus; other authorities recognized them as distinct species. In 2021 the AOS agreed to split them based on differences in genetics, plumage, morphology and vocalizations. Though “Mew Gull” was long used for L. canus brachyrhynchus by North Americans, “Short-billed Gull” was chosen at the new name because “Mew Gull” had been used in recent literature to denote all forms of L. canus, plus the fact that “Short-billed Gull” was previously used in older AOS/AOU checklists since 1886. The word ‘mew’ comes from Old English “meaw” and Dutch “meeuw,” both meaning ‘gull’ but initially imitative of the bird’s cry. They were also called “sea-mew,” essentially meaning “gull gull.” — mostly Wikipedia
They’re not terrifically common in SoCal. The sheet below shows their appearances on our field trips Oct’79 – Dec’25; 106 birds on 43 visits, present mostly Oct-Mar.
But over the past 25 years (2001-2025) there has been only 26 birds in 23 visits, and the past 5 years (2021-2025) has brought only 3 birds in 3 visits. Unlike the millions of Common Gulls mewing merrily away all over Europe, the Short-billed has never been common in SoCal.
Historically, nearly all the (now) Short-billed Gulls I’ve seen in SoCal were at two locations: the Ventura Wastewater Service plant on Spinnaker Drive on the south side of Ventura Harbor; Dockweiler Beach in front of the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant on Vista del Mar south of Playa del Rey. Several decades ago they were easily located at the Ventura Plant, just look for the huge round charcoal filtration tubs; dozens to hundreds of the gulls were always sitting on the slowly rotating spray arms, going round and round and round. Unfortunately (for gulls and birders looking for them) the plant roofed over their spray tubs and the birds moved elsewhere, some to the beach, some to the settlement ponds. On Dockweiler Beach, they gathered on the sand directly in front of the plant on what was probably the point of land closest to the ocean end of the plant’s outfall tube.
There’s something about sewage that really attracts these gulls.
Malibu Lagoon on eBird as of 12-31-25: 9037 lists, 2921 eBirders, 322 species
Most recent new species seen: Nelson’s Sparrow, 11/29/24 by Femi Faminu (SMBAS member). When the newest species added to the list was seen on a date prior to the most recently seen new species, there is no way I can find to easily determine what that bird is. Another minor nit to pick about eBird.
Birds new for the season: Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Feral Pigeon, Spotted Sandpiper, Short-billed Gull, Horned Grebe, American Goldfinch, Savannah Sparrow. “New for the season” means it has been three or more months since last recorded on our trips.
Many, many thanks to photographers Marie Barnidge-McIntyre, Femi Faminu, Ray Juncosa, and Armando Martinez.
Upcoming SMBAS scheduled field trips; no reservations or Covid card necessary unless specifically mentioned:
- Bette Davis-Riverwalk or Veteran’s Park, Sat. Jan 10, 8 am
- Malibu Lagoon, Sun. Jan. 25, 8:30 (adults) & 10 am (parents & kids)
- These and any other trips we announce for the foreseeable future will depend upon expected status of the Covid/flu/etc. pandemic, not to mention landslides, fires, local flooding and atmospheric rivers 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 Zoom program: Tuesday, February 3, 7:30pm; to be announced.
The SMBAS 10 a.m. Parent’s & Kids Birdwalk has again resumed. Reservations not necessary for families, but for groups (scouts, etc.), call Jean (213-522-0062).
Links: Unusual birds at Malibu Lagoon
9/23/02 Aerial photo of Malibu Lagoon
More recent aerial photo
Prior checklists:
2025: Jan-June
2023: Jan-June, July-Dec 2024: Jan-June, July-Dec
2021: Jan-July, July-Dec 2022: Jan-June, 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 Marie Barnidge-McIntyre, Femi Faminu, Chris Lord, Armando Martinez, Chris & Ruth Tosdevin andothers for contributions made to this month’s census counts.
The species list below was re-sequenced as of 12/31/24 to agree with the California Bird Records Committee Official California Checklist, mostly. If part of the right side of the chart below is hidden, there’s a slider button inconveniently located at the bottom end of the list. The numbers 1-9 left of the species names are keyed to the nine categories of birds at the bottom. Updated lagoon bird check lists can be downloaded here.
[Chuck Almdale]
| Malibu Census 2025 | 7/27 | 8/24 | 9/28 | 10/26 | 11/23 | 12/28 | |
| Temperature | 64-70 | 68-75 | 65-69 | 58-65 | 59-65 | 60-69 | |
| Tide Lo/Hi Height | L-0.46 | H+4.74 | H+4.54 | H+5.02 | H+5.46 | L+1.35 | |
| Tide Time | 0605 | 1102 | 1244 | 1125 | 0939 | 1047 | |
| 1 | Brant (Black) | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 1 | Canada Goose | 1 | 12 | 14 | |||
| 1 | Northern Shoveler | 4 | |||||
| 1 | Gadwall | 20 | 19 | 6 | 14 | 20 | |
| 1 | American Wigeon | 15 | |||||
| 1 | Mallard | 40 | 14 | 7 | 26 | 1 | 12 |
| 1 | Green-winged Teal | 5 | |||||
| 1 | Ring-necked Duck | 1 | |||||
| 1 | Surf Scoter | 10 | 2 | 22 | 4 | ||
| 1 | Bufflehead | 4 | 4 | ||||
| 1 | Red-breasted Merganser | 1 | 2 | 5 | |||
| 1 | Ruddy Duck | 19 | 1 | 5 | 11 | ||
| 2 | Feral Pigeon | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | ||
| 2 | Mourning Dove | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2 | Anna’s Hummingbird | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| 2 | Allen’s Hummingbird | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
| 3 | Sora | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 3 | American Coot | 6 | 4 | 31 | 4 | 25 | 25 |
| 4 | Black Oystercatcher | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 4 | Black-bellied Plover | 21 | 49 | 55 | 88 | 64 | 62 |
| 4 | Killdeer | 4 | 9 | 1 | 8 | 10 | 4 |
| 4 | Semipalmated Plover | 4 | 1 | ||||
| 4 | Snowy Plover | 13 | 17 | 35 | 40 | 40 | 7 |
| 4 | Hudsonian Whimbrel | 1 | 12 | 3 | 14 | 8 | 4 |
| 4 | Marbled Godwit | 21 | 8 | 10 | |||
| 4 | Wilson’s Phalarope | 1 | |||||
| 4 | Spotted Sandpiper | 1 | |||||
| 4 | Willet | 10 | 14 | 20 | 7 | ||
| 4 | Ruddy Turnstone | 3 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| 4 | Sanderling | 1 | 13 | 23 | 14 | ||
| 4 | Dunlin | 2 | 1 | ||||
| 4 | Least Sandpiper | 10 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 10 |
| 4 | Western Sandpiper | 4 | 14 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 5 | Sabine’s Gull | 1 | |||||
| 5 | Bonaparte’s Gull | 1 | |||||
| 5 | Heermann’s Gull | 36 | 10 | 38 | 2 | 49 | 10 |
| 5 | Short-billed Gull | 1 | |||||
| 5 | Ring-billed Gull | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 5 |
| 5 | Western Gull | 52 | 115 | 61 | 35 | 55 | 85 |
| 5 | American Herring Gull | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 5 | California Gull | 1 | 4 | 10 | 116 | 410 | 650 |
| 5 | Caspian Tern | 4 | 2 | ||||
| 5 | Forster’s Tern | 1 | |||||
| 5 | Elegant Tern | 70 | 4 | 2 | 3 | ||
| 5 | Royal Tern | 21 | 135 | 12 | 2 | 22 | 25 |
| 6 | Pied-billed Grebe | 3 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | Horned Grebe | 1 | |||||
| 6 | Eared Grebe | 1 | 6 | 3 | 1 | ||
| 6 | Western Grebe | 30 | 8 | 10 | |||
| 6 | Clark’s Grebe | 2 | |||||
| 6 | Red-throated Loon | 2 | |||||
| 6 | Pacific Loon | 1 | |||||
| 6 | Brandt’s Cormorant | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | |
| 6 | Pelagic Cormorant | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 6 | Double-crested Cormorant | 98 | 74 | 49 | 28 | 38 | 17 |
| 6 | White-faced Ibis | 1 | |||||
| 6 | Yellow-crowned Night-Heron | 1 | |||||
| 6 | Black-crowned Night-Heron | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||
| 6 | Snowy Egret | 10 | 10 | 5 | 34 | 30 | 11 |
| 6 | Green Heron | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| 6 | Great Egret | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 6 | Great Blue Heron | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | Brown Pelican | 118 | 32 | 45 | 138 | 13 | 3 |
| 7 | Turkey Vulture | 1 | 2 | ||||
| 7 | Osprey | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 7 | Cooper’s Hawk | 1 | |||||
| 7 | Red-shouldered Hawk | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||
| 7 | Red-tailed Hawk | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 8 | Belted Kingfisher | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
| 8 | Nuttall’s Woodpecker | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 8 | Nanday Parakeet | 20 | 9 | ||||
| 9 | Black Phoebe | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 9 | Say’s Phoebe | 1 | |||||
| 9 | California Scrub-Jay | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||
| 9 | American Crow | 9 | 8 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 6 |
| 9 | Common Raven | 1 | |||||
| 9 | Oak Titmouse | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 9 | No. Rough-winged Swallow | 5 | 2 | ||||
| 9 | Barn Swallow | 20 | 40 | 4 | |||
| 9 | Cliff Swallow | 12 | |||||
| 9 | Bushtit | 20 | 20 | 9 | 35 | 4 | 19 |
| 9 | Wrentit | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 9 | Swinhoe’s White-eye | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 9 | Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 2 | |||||
| 9 | Northern House Wren | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 9 | Marsh Wren | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 9 | Bewick’s Wren | 2 | |||||
| 9 | European Starling | 25 | 35 | 2 | 6 | 30 | |
| 9 | Northern Mockingbird | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 9 | Western Bluebird | 2 | 1 | ||||
| 9 | Hermit Thrush | 2 | |||||
| 9 | Scaly-breasted Munia | 7 | |||||
| 9 | House Finch | 5 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 15 |
| 9 | Lesser Goldfinch | 2 | 2 | ||||
| 9 | American Goldfinch | 4 | |||||
| 9 | Dark-eyed Junco | 1 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | |
| 9 | White-crowned Sparrow | 2 | 10 | 12 | 18 | ||
| 9 | Savannah Sparrow | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 9 | Song Sparrow | 3 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| 9 | California Towhee | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| 9 | Western Meadowlark | 2 | |||||
| 9 | Hooded Oriole | 2 | |||||
| 9 | Great-tailed Grackle | 1 | 23 | 6 | 16 | 3 | |
| 9 | Orange-crowned Warbler | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 9 | Common Yellowthroat | 1 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 1 |
| 9 | Yellow-rumped Warbler | 2 | 25 | 10 | 8 | ||
| 9 | Black-throated Gray Warbler | 1 | |||||
| Totals Birds by Type | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| 1 | Waterfowl & Quail | 81 | 33 | 25 | 28 | 61 | 95 |
| 2 | Doves, Swifts & Hummers | 11 | 11 | 14 | 8 | 7 | 9 |
| 3 | Rails & Coots | 6 | 4 | 32 | 4 | 26 | 25 |
| 4 | Shorebirds | 61 | 93 | 130 | 219 | 185 | 123 |
| 5 | Gulls & Terns | 116 | 341 | 127 | 164 | 547 | 777 |
| 6 | Grebe, Loon, Heron, Pelican | 242 | 135 | 117 | 259 | 111 | 59 |
| 7 | Hawks & Falcons | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 8 | Kingfish, Peckers & Parrots | 2 | 1 | 21 | 10 | 3 | 1 |
| 9 | Passerines | 110 | 141 | 82 | 122 | 122 | 91 |
| Totals Birds | 631 | 761 | 553 | 816 | 1065 | 1185 | |
| Total Species by Group | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| 1 | Waterfowl & Quail | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 11 |
| 2 | Doves, Swifts & Hummers | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 3 | Rails & Coots | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 4 | Shorebirds | 9 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 11 |
| 5 | Gulls & Terns | 6 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 7 |
| 6 | Grebe, Loon, Heron, Pelican | 10 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 11 |
| 7 | Hawks & Falcons | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| 8 | Kingfish, Peckers & Parrots | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 9 | Passerines | 16 | 16 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 21 |
| Totals Species – 107 | 54 | 53 | 64 | 61 | 71 | 69 |
SANTA MONICA BAY AUDUBON SOCIETY BLOG 