SANTA MONICA BAY AUDUBON SOCIETY BLOG

[By Chuck Almdale]

Look for the mystery bird photo just above the trip list.

The fog kept the temperature comfortable. Big ones were rolling in at the beach, and the waves were covered with surfers. Outsiders kept appearing, and the surfers were too close in to catch them, always a disappointment for surfers and watchers alike.

It’s spring, (pre)-June gloom is here, and our birds are disappearing to the north. A few might be back by late June—Western Snowy Plovers, for example—but June is normally the month for low numbers and low diversity. Today we had only 452 birds in 39 species.

That seemed a bit low for May, so I decided to check. It turns out that:
10 Mays 2012-2021 low-high range: 262-918 birds, 30-55 species
10 Mays 2012-2021 average: 530 birds, 42 species (rounded)
5/22/22 below the prior 10-year average: 15% birds, 7% species
So…below average but within ‘normal operating parameters,’ to misuse a phrase.

Most notably absent were the sandpipers (‘shorebirds,’ ‘waders,’ ‘peeps’). Two whole birds! (if you exclude the plovers).

But one of them was a ‘good’ bird: a female Red-necked Phalarope. We get some of these irregularly during migration, but not many and not often. Here’s a few numbers: Out of 299 census dates, we’ve seen 70 birds total over 19 sightings. Sightings are: 2 in Apr, 3 in May, 1 in July, 7 in Aug, 5 in Sep, 1 in Nov. So August and September are your best bets, followed by May.

There may have been something wrong with this bird. I got an email from Mel Raab who sent me a photo of a female taken on May 15 walking on the pebbled shore (of the lagoon, I believe). When we saw the bird on 5/22, a week later, it looks like it may be the same bird and it’s also walking on the shore.

Two passing birders said they’d seen it in the water earlier. When the bulk of our group laid eyes on it, she was walking up the sand from the water. So it’s not paralyzed or at the edge of death. Just tired, perhaps. Or…a totally different female; two birds, one at a time, a week apart. Yes, these things happen and the birds frequently fail to keep us updated on their plans.

Phalaropes feed in the water, often by twirling in a circle which creates a little whirlpool that brings up tiny edibles from below which the bird can pick off the surface or close to the surface with it’s very thin bill. I’ve never seen one walk up and down the shore like a Least Sandpiper looking for something to grab.

Phalaropes are also among the few avian species that are polyandrous—females take more than one mate. Female phalaropes are also more colorful than the males, a situation known as ‘reversed sexual dimorphism;’ ‘reversed’ because when the sexes look different, it’s usually the male that is more colorful. Some polyandrous females mate sequentially, breeding with one male, then traipsing off to find another, then another, and then another if time and weather permits.

Other polyandrous females mate with several males at the same time. Some of the Jacana species do it this way. I haven’t been able to find out how many bird species in the world are polyandrous. When I wrote a 3-part article about polyandry and reversed sexual dimorphism six years ago, I discussed 17 polyandrous species, but found mention of about 40 polyandrous species in total—not many (0.37%) out of 10,800 species of birds.

Most of the gulls have left, and the tern population dropped significantly as well. The Double-crested Cormorants were sitting on the stones in the lagoon, the Pelagic Cormorants were swimming in the near-surf zone, and the 50 Brandt’s Cormorants were a fly-by flock.

There has been a drop in the local population of whatever fish the Brown Pelicans like to eat. Some of them are starving to death, literally, and we saw perhaps six pelican corpses on the edges of the lagoon and on the beach. One such corpse was in close proximity to the sleeping Red-necked Phalarope.

Once again we did not—as expected—see any Western Snowy Plovers. They’re just not here this time of year, unless a pair decides to mate and nest here. But oftentimes a few birds have returned by the time of the June trip, back from breeding somewhere farther north.

Birds new for the season: Brant, Red-necked Phalarope, Common Raven.

Malibu Lagoon on eBird as of 5-28-22: 5842 lists, 313 species

Many thanks to photographers: Lynzie Floyd, Lillian Johnson, Grace Murayama, Mel Raab, Chris Tosdevin

Upcoming SMBAS scheduled field trips: Our next trip will be Malibu Lagoon on June 26. This, and any other trip we announce will—for the foreseeable future—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 about this topic should be superfluous.

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, if desired, 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 Lynzie Floyd, Lillian Johnson, Chris Lord, Grace Murayama, Mel Raab, 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 2021-22	12/26	1/23	2/27	3/27	4/24	5/22
	Temperature	54-62	61-73	61-70	57-65	72-75	61-66
	Tide Lo/Hi Height	L+2.58	L+2.04	H+5.76	H+5.00	H+4.50	L-0.32
	Tide Time	0900	0645	0621	0615	0442	1029
1	(Black) Brant						6
1	Canada Goose	4	2	2	6	3
1	Egyptian Goose			1
1	Cinnamon Teal			2
1	Gadwall	20	29	8	47	26	25
1	American Wigeon	10	4		6	1	2
1	Mallard	12	20	12	30	14	15
1	Northern Pintail	1	1
1	Green-winged Teal	15	11	12	15	2
1	Surf Scoter		10		15	3
1	Bufflehead	10	2	5
1	Common Goldeneye				2
1	Hooded Merganser	13
1	Red-breasted Merganser	15	9	6	5
1	Ruddy Duck	13		4	1
2	Pied-billed Grebe	5	3	3	3	1
2	Horned Grebe	1
2	Eared Grebe			1		1
2	Western Grebe		30	12	16
7	Feral Pigeon	3	20	10	8	4	6
7	Band-tailed Pigeon			3
7	Eurasian Collared-Dove		1
7	Mourning Dove	1		4	2	4
8	Anna’s Hummingbird	2	2	2	1		1
8	Allen’s Hummingbird	4	3	3	3	3	1
2	American Coot	360	49	73	65	1	4
5	Black-bellied Plover	104	58	25	28	2	1
5	Killdeer	10	2	10	4	2	3
5	Semipalmated Plover					15
5	Snowy Plover	34		15	10
5	Whimbrel	9	8	2	8	2
5	Marbled Godwit	71	32	1		2
5	Ruddy Turnstone	1	6	5
5	Sanderling	22	1		45	2
5	Dunlin					1
5	Least Sandpiper	35	12	20	10	50
5	Western Sandpiper		1	11	35	30
5	Spotted Sandpiper					6	1
5	Willet	13	15	8	6	2
5	Red-necked Phalarope						1
6	Bonaparte’s Gull	2	1
6	Heermann’s Gull	26	45	1	8	15	4
6	Ring-billed Gull	170	40	175	16	65
6	Western Gull	85	95	88	95	57	95
6	California Gull	370	925	510	185	35	33
6	Herring Gull		2	1	2
6	Glaucous-winged Gull	2	5	5	8	6
6	Caspian Tern			1	8	12	15
6	Royal Tern		5	2	35	18	3
6	Elegant Tern				6	220	24
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	1	6	1	5	1	50
2	Pelagic Cormorant	1	12	3	1	1	2
2	Double-crested Cormorant	39	45	51	33	26	22
2	Brown Pelican	44	110	15	23	68	65
3	Great Blue Heron	4	4	2	1	1	2
3	Great Egret	7	2		5	3	2
3	Snowy Egret	24	6	3	4	1	1
3	Green Heron	2	1
3	Black-crowned Night-Heron	1	5
4	Turkey Vulture	1		1	5	3	4
4	Osprey	1	1	1	1
4	Cooper’s Hawk	2	1	1
4	Red-shouldered Hawk	1	1	1
4	Red-tailed Hawk	1	1	1
8	Belted Kingfisher		1	1	1	1
8	Downy Woodpecker	1
8	Nuttall’s Woodpecker	1
4	Merlin		1
9	Black Phoebe	4	4	3	3		2
9	Say’s Phoebe			1
9	California Scrub-Jay	2	2	3	2	1
9	American Crow	7	4	20	6	4	4
9	Common Raven		1				2
9	Oak Titmouse		1
9	Tree Swallow		2
9	No. Rough-winged Swallow				2	4	8
9	Barn Swallow	2			4	8	15
9	Cliff Swallow					8	4
9	Bushtit		12	4	4	10
9	Wrentit	1			2		2
9	Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	1		2
9	House Wren					2
9	Bewick’s Wren	4
9	Northern Mockingbird	1	1		1	1
9	European Starling	9	15	30	3	2	1
9	Hermit Thrush	1	1
9	House Finch	8	8	5	15	6	12
9	Lesser Goldfinch	2	4	2		2
9	Dark-eyed Junco	2	4	3
9	White-crowned Sparrow	17	35	25	20	2
9	Savannah Sparrow	1
9	Song Sparrow	8	6	6	10	7	10
9	California Towhee	4	2	2	2	2	2
9	Red-winged Blackbird			2		1
9	Brown-headed Cowbird					2	1
9	Great-tailed Grackle	7	1	3	5	2	1
9	Orange-crowned Warbler		1
9	Common Yellowthroat	6	3	1	1
9	Yellow-rumped Warbler	20	10	6	1
	Totals by Type	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May
1	Waterfowl	113	88	52	127	49	48
2	Water Birds – Other	452	1259	164	146	99	143
3	Herons, Egrets & Ibis	38	18	5	10	5	5
4	Quail & Raptors	6	5	5	6	3	4
5	Shorebirds	299	135	97	146	114	6
6	Gulls & Terns	655	1118	783	363	428	174
7	Doves	4	21	17	10	8	6
8	Other Non-Passerines	8	6	6	5	4	2
9	Passerines	107	117	118	81	64	64
	Totals Birds	1682	2767	1247	894	774	452
	Total Species	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May
1	Waterfowl	10	9	9	9	6	4
2	Water Birds – Other	8	11	11	7	7	5
3	Herons, Egrets & Ibis	5	5	2	3	3	3
4	Quail & Raptors	5	5	5	2	1	1
5	Shorebirds	9	9	9	8	11	4
6	Gulls & Terns	6	8	8	9	8	6
7	Doves	2	2	3	2	2	1
8	Other Non-Passerines	4	3	3	3	2	2
9	Passerines	20	20	17	16	17	13
	Totals Species – 103	69	72	67	59	57	39