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Good numbers, both of birds (1208) and birders (30+), but species diversity (53), not counting humans, was down a bit, as September was only the 3^rd month below-10-year-average for the past year. (See our Lagoon Census Summary Page for clarification of the 10-year data).  Weather was breezy and a nice 64-73° and tide was almost at the high: waves crashed over the offshore rocks and one wave washed over our feet as we checked out the terns and Snowy Plovers.

A Warbling Vireo popping through the fence-clinging vines alongside the colony was the surprise bird of the day; my only other record for it on a Sunday walk is a singleton on 5/26/02. It was annoyingly elusive and not everyone managed to see it, despite much pishing and moaning, but photographer Joyce Waterman was quick on the draw and snagged a shot.

A few of the Least Sandpipers, adults in basic plumage, looked almost like Pectoral Sandpipers – well…sort of almost – but it was Not To Be. The above photo led to an email discussion of plumages, sizes, bill length and photographic optical illusions.  One of the beach terns had red legs, giving us brief hope for an oddity, but everything else about it said “I’m an Elegant Tern, don’t mess with me.”

The count of 37 Snowy Egrets was second only to the all-time-high of 40 seen 7/26/09. Everywhere you looked, especially on the east end of one channel sand island, Snowy Egrets stalked the shallows.  Incidentally, the Brants (geese) have now been at the lagoon for the past 3 months, and one Brant or another has been there eight out of the last eleven months, including 15 of them last February. If this is indicative of something, I don’t know what it is. Perhaps they like floating algae.

The Snowy Plover count was up to 47 birds, most of them actually within the Snowy Plover enclosure, for a shocking change, including newbie RB:YG. First seen at the lagoon on 9/9/13, this individual was born and banded at Fort Ord this past summer. Welcome to the sunny southern climes of Malibu!

New birds for the season were: American Widgeon, Northern Shoveler, Pelagic Cormorant, American Kestrel, Marbled Godwit, Long-billed Dowitcher, Ring-billed Gull, Say’s Phoebe, and Warbling Vireo.

Our next three scheduled field trips:   Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, 12 Oct, 8:30am; Butterbredt Spring Fall Campout & Pumpkin Carving Contest 26-27 Oct, 8:30am;  Malibu Lagoon, 27 Oct, 8:30 & 10am.
Our next program:  Tuesday, 1 Oct., 7:30 pm. Peru, presented by Mary Deutsche.

NOTE: Our 10 a.m. Parent’s & Kids Birdwalks meet at the shaded viewing area.

Links: Unusual birds at Malibu Lagoon
Aerial photo of Malibu Lagoon from 9/23/02.
Prior checklists: July-Dec’11, Jan-June’11, July-Dec ’10, Jan-June ’10, Jul-Dec ‘09, and Jan-June ‘09.

Comments on Bird Lists Below
Total Birds:   September total birds of 1208 are 23% above the 6-year average, a continued improvement from the Jan-Jun’13 period; pelican numbers continue high; Mallard, Double-crested Cormorant, Snowy Egret, Black-bellied Plovers, Heermann’s Gull, Elegant Terns and Rock Pigeon were all above average.
Summary of total birds from the 6-year average so far:  Jun’12 +36%, Jul’12 -9%, Aug’12 -9%, Sep’12 +12%, Oct’12 +3%, Nov’12 -5%, Dec’12 +30%, Jan’13 -20%, Feb’13 -29%, Mar’13 -30%, Apr’13 -34%, May’13 -37%, Jun’13 -24%, Jul’13 +83%, Aug’13 +37%, Sep’13 +23%.
Species Diversity:  September 2013 with 53 species was moderately below (-14%) the 6-year average of 62.
Summary of species diversity from the 6-year average so far:  Jun’12 -10%, Jul’12 +10%, Aug’12. -6%, Sep’12 -20%, Oct’12 +5%, Nov’12 +2%, Dec’12 -4%, Jan’13 +2%, Feb’13 -8%, Mar’13 +9%, Apr’13 -2%, May’13 +3%, Jun’13 +13%, Jul’13 0%, Aug’13 +11%, Sep’13 -14%.
10-year comparison summaries are available on our Lagoon Project Bird Census Page.    [Chuck Almdale]

Malibu Census	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
September 2008-2013	9/28	9/27	9/26	9/25	9/23	9/22
Temperature		72-80	70-79	61-69	73-80	64-73
Tide Lo/Hi Height	H+5.7	H+3.9	H+5.54	H+5.33	L+2.88	H+5.69	Ave.
Tide Time	0917	0731	1055	0830	1021	1123	Birds
Brant			5			3	1.3
Gadwall	4	11	20	10		4	8.2
American Wigeon		8	1	3		4	2.7
Mallard	16	22	48	48	34	43	35.2
Northern Shoveler	6	8	4	10	11	16	9.2
Northern Pintail		1					0.2
Greater Scaup		1					0.2
Red-brstd Merganser					1		0.2
Ruddy Duck			15	8	5		4.7
Pied-billed Grebe	6	4	18	13	7	11	9.8
Eared Grebe	1		2	5	3	4	2.5
Western Grebe		2	4		12		3.0
Brandt’s Cormorant	1			1	4	5	1.8
Dble-crstd Cormorant	17	14	38	47	45	56	36.2
Pelagic Cormorant		3		2		1	1.0
Brown Pelican	43	12	46	60	22	142	54.2
Great Blue Heron	10	5	5	2	5	4	5.2
Great Egret	1	3	6	2	1	2	2.5
Snowy Egret	16	14	14	23	8	37	18.7
Green Heron		1	1	1			0.5
Blk-crwnd N-Heron		4	10	12			4.3
Osprey	1						0.2
Cooper’s Hawk	1	1					0.3
Red-shouldered Hawk					1		0.2
Red-tailed Hawk	1						0.2
American Kestrel						1	0.2
Merlin			1				0.2
Peregrine Falcon				1	1		0.3
Virginia Rail		1		1			0.3
Sora	1	2	1	3			1.2
American Coot	95	147	230	410	270	195	224.5
Blk-bellied Plover		102	78	40	160	162	90.3
Snowy Plover	45	33	62	62	46	47	49.2
Semipalmated Plover	2	2	11		1		2.7
Killdeer	4	4	1	6	6	7	4.7
Black-necked Stilt				1			0.2
Spotted Sandpiper	3	1	2	2	3	4	2.5
Willet	18	33	56	7	3	25	23.7
Whimbrel	2	6	17	26	38	18	17.8
Long-billed Curlew			1				0.2
Marbled Godwit	4	4	22	2	3	1	6.0
Ruddy Turnstone	15	4	10	7	14	10	10.0
Sanderling	20	41	20	3			14.0
Western Sandpiper	1		28			4	5.5
Least Sandpiper		3	14	3		14	5.7
Pectoral Sandpiper		2	1		1		0.7
Dunlin	2	2					0.7
Short-billd Dowitcher		6	1				1.2
Long-billed Dowitcher				2	3	1	1.0
Wilson’s Phalarope			1				0.2
Red-necked Phalarope					1		0.2
Heermann’s Gull	9	14	68	15	8	74	31.3
Ring-billed Gull	2	2	30	7	1	2	7.3
Western Gull	80	84	73	66	93	85	80.2
California Gull	20	15	22	16	7	6	14.3
Herring Gull				1			0.2
Black Tern			1				0.2
Common Tern			8				1.3
Forster’s Tern	1		6				1.2
Royal Tern	1		1	15	11	4	5.3
Elegant Tern	8	5	40	4	87	67	35.2
Parasitic Jaeger	1						0.2
Rock Pigeon	6	4	12	5	4	25	9.3
Mourning Dove	1	2	2	2		3	1.7
Vaux’s Swift				100			16.7
Anna’s Hummingbird	1	3	2	3		1	1.7
Allen’s Hummingbird	6	2	1	1	3	7	3.3
Belted Kingfisher	1	1	1	1		1	0.8
Western Wood-Pewee				1			0.2
Gray Flycatcher			1				0.2
Black Phoebe	6	7	5	6	9	12	7.5
Say’s Phoebe	1			1		2	0.7
Cassin’s Kingbird			2	1			0.5
Western Kingbird			4				0.7
Warbling Vireo						1	0.2
Western Scrub-Jay	1						0.2
American Crow	6	6	3	2	1	5	3.8
Rough-wingd Swallow			4	1			0.8
Barn Swallow		2	1	30			5.5
Oak Titmouse	2						0.3
Bushtit	25	7	11	6	4	12	10.8
Bewick’s Wren			1	1	1		0.5
House Wren	1	3	2	1	1	1	1.5
Marsh Wren	1		4				0.8
Northern Mockingbird	2	3	3	2	3	2	2.5
European Starling	16	8	62	23	45	42	32.7
Orange-crwnd Warbler	1	1		1	1		0.7
Yellow Warbler			2				0.3
Townsend’s Warbler			1				0.2
Common Yellowthroat	3	3	4	5	2	1	3.0
Wilson’s Warbler			1	2		6	1.5
Spotted Towhee	1						0.2
California Towhee	2	2		1	3	3	1.8
Savannah Sparrow		2	1	1			0.7
Song Sparrow	2	4	4	3	1	7	3.5
White-crwnd Sparrow			4				0.7
Blue Grosbeak			1				0.2
Lazuli Bunting			6				1.0
Bobolink				1			0.2
Red-winged Blackbird	7		14	18	8		7.8
Western Meadowlark	1	4	3				1.3
Brewer’s Blackbird		1	15				2.7
Great-tailed Grackle		2		12	6	8	4.7
Brwn-headed Cowbird		1	3				0.7
Bullock’s Oriole	1						0.2
House Finch	4	4	10	12	1	6	6.2
Lesser Goldfinch		1	2	2	4	4	2.2
Lawrence’s Goldfinch			2				0.3
Totals by Type	9/28	9/27	9/26	9/25	9/23	9/22	Ave.
Waterfowl	26	51	93	79	51	70	62
Water Birds-Other	164	185	339	542	363	414	335
Herons, Egrets	27	27	36	40	14	43	31
Raptors	3	1	1	1	2	1	2
Shorebirds	116	243	325	161	279	293	236
Gulls & Terns	122	120	249	124	207	238	177
Doves	7	6	14	7	4	28	11
Other Non-Pass.	8	6	4	105	3	9	23
Passerines	83	61	176	133	90	112	109
Totals Birds	556	700	1237	1192	1013	1208	984
	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Total Species	9/28	9/27	9/26	9/25	9/23	9/22	Ave.
Waterfowl	3	6	6	5	4	5	4.8
Water Birds-Other	7	8	7	9	7	7	7.5
Herons, Egrets	3	5	5	5	3	3	4.0
Raptors	3	1	1	1	2	1	1.5
Shorebirds	11	14	16	12	12	11	12.7
Gulls & Terns	8	5	9	7	6	6	6.8
Doves	2	2	2	2	1	2	1.8
Other Non-Pass.	3	3	3	4	1	3	2.8
Passerines	19	18	29	23	15	15	19.8
Totals Species – 108	59	62	78	68	51	53	61.8

After several decades of arguing, nearly to the point of fisticuffs, SMBAS birders have almost sorted out the differences between Elegant and Royal Terns. A few questions, a short run-through of differences, we move on, and only a few low grumbled invectives in the background. One down, 42 I.D. problems to go. This time it was a falcon.

I always hope that Cindy is around to make these pesky raptor calls. I don’t consider myself an expert on much of anything, let alone underside views of lone raptors disappearing into the fog.

I spotted it first, when it was lowest and closest. Pointed wings said ‘falcon’: it looked fluttery and small, almost kestrel-like, but not quite. My “falcon!” call” alerted the group to the bird’s presence, and I continued watching for any definitive ID sign. It lacked the underside patterning or the “sideburns” a kestrel should have, nor were it’s axillaries (“armpits”) Prairie Falcon dark, so I announced, “I think it’s a Merlin,” in my default “that’s-what-I-think-but-I’m-not-putting-any-money-on-it” manner. I continued to watch its head as the bird circled, rose and eventually disappeared into the fog; I felt I saw it well enough to see signs of a dark “hood” or thick “sideburn” were they present. I saw neither.  [I ought to mention that I use 10X stabilizing binoculars, so I often see things as well as others do using a 20X telescope. They don’t make me a great birder – just better than I would otherwise be.]

Meanwhile, cutting through the background chatter, another voice had announced several times, “It’s a Peregrine!” . [Birders, utterly engrossed in the process of finding and watching a bird, temporarily oblivious to their immediate surroundings, frequently cry out, “Where is it? What is it? What is it?”, while others are equally busy saying where and what it is.]

After the bird flew out of sight, while some were still asking, “What did we decide it was?”, I located the person who, to my ears, seemed confident it was a Peregrine, and asked, “Why do you think it was a Peregrine?” As I said, lone birds in the fog are not my strong suit. The reply was something like, ‘I work with raptors and their recovery, so I’m familiar with them.’  I had been hoping for details of the bird, not of the person, and I repeated my question. “It was big;” possibly ‘strong flight’ was mentioned – I now forget. “Well, that’s weird, because it seemed both small and a bit fluttery to me,” I replied. A skeptic, I hold the ability of humans – including myself – to judge either size or distance of a bird, especially a lone bird, poor, at best.

So there it is, for what it’s worth. I could not see any Peregrine head pattern on the bird, I don’t trust anyone’s size or distance impressions, the bird mostly soared, it ‘fluttered’ only at the very start when fairly low (perhaps it was just taking off). My 35 years of Malibu sightings yield the following August records: Merlin-1, Peregrine-0. Not much to choose from. I put it in the checklist as a Merlin.

In other late-breaking news, there were 35 Snowy Plovers near the east end of the enclosure, no banded birds were seen. If there were any big feeding flocks offshore, it was too foggy to see them.

Other new birds for the season were: Western Sandpiper; Forster’s Tern; Western Wood-Pewee; Western Kingbird; Rough-winged Swallow; House Wren; Orange-crowned, Yellow-rumped & Wilson’s Warblers; Lincoln’s Sparrow.

The Sierra Club Trail Crew volunteers were kind enough to come a second month to pull weeds. I had hoped a few SMBAS members would be there, but it was only Jim Kenney and myself to join the very vigorous weeders. We spent about 3 1/2 hours pulling tobacco, fennel, pepperweed and excess willows from the driveway circle, and thinning out the nearby mulefat. If one could train goats to be very selective in their dining choices, it would be wonderful. Until then, humans must do the work. Many thanks to the Trail Crew.

Our next three scheduled field trips:   Malibu Lagoon Coastal Cleanup, Sat. 21 Sep, 9am; Malibu Lagoon, Sun. 22 Sept, 8:30 & 10am; Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Sat. 12 Oct, 8:30am.
Our next program:  Tuesday, 1 Oct., 7:30 pm. Peru, presented by Mary Deutsch.

NOTE: Our 10 a.m. Parent’s & Kids Birdwalks meet at the shaded viewing area.

Links: Unusual birds at Malibu Lagoon
Aerial photo of Malibu Lagoon from 9/23/02.
Prior checklists: July-Dec’11, Jan-June’11, July-Dec ’10, Jan-June ’10, Jul-Dec ‘09, and Jan-June ‘09.

Comments on Bird Lists Below
Total Birds:   August total birds of 1154 are 37% above the 6-year average, an improvement from the Jan-Jun’13 period; pelican numbers rebounded; Black-bellied Plovers, Elegant Terns and Bushtits were well above average.
Summary of total birds from the 6-year average so far:  Jun’12 +36%, Jul’12 -9%, Aug’12 -9%, Sep’12 +12%, Oct’12 +3%, Nov’12 -5%, Dec’12 +30%, Jan’13 -20%, Feb’13 -29%, Mar’13 -30%, Apr’13 -34%, May’13 -37%, Jun’13 -24%, Jul’13 +83%, Aug’13 +37%.
Species Diversity:  August 2013 with 61 species was moderately above the 6-year average of 55.
Summary of species diversity from the 6-year average so far:  Jun’12 -10%, Jul’12 +10%, Aug’12. -6%, Sep’12 -20%, Oct’12 +5%, Nov’12 +2%, Dec’12 -4%, Jan’13 +2%, Feb’13 -8%, Mar’13 +9%, Apr’13 -2%, May’13 +3%, Jun’13 +13%, Jul’13 0%, Aug’13 +11%.
10-year comparison summaries are available on our Lagoon Project Bird Census Page.    [Chuck Almdale]

Malibu Census	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
August 2008 – 2013	8/24	8/23	8/22	8/28	8/26	8/25
Temperature		65-75	68-75	72-81	70-78	58-70
Tide Lo/Hi Height	L +2.9	H +5.7	H +4.32	H +5.03	H +2.59	L +1.31	Ave.
Tide Time	0819	1201	0933	0942	1136	628	Birds
Brant			5			3	1.3
Gadwall		4					0.7
Mallard	42	35	55	60	32	52	46.0
Northern Shoveler					4		0.7
Northern Pintail			6				1.0
Ruddy Duck			5	5			1.7
Common Loon					1		0.2
Pied-billed Grebe	3	7	9	15	10	16	10.0
Eared Grebe						1	0.2
Western Grebe					3		0.5
Brandt’s Cormorant				3	1	8	2.0
Dble-crstd Cormorant	18	12	30	48	34	45	31.2
Pelagic Cormorant	2			3	2		1.2
Brown Pelican	15	185	163	77	37	143	103.3
Great Blue Heron	8	7	6	3	5	3	5.3
Great Egret	5	5	4	2	1	2	3.2
Snowy Egret	23	17	19	15	14	14	17.0
Green Heron			1				0.2
Blk-crwnd N-Heron	2	3	7	4		2	3.0
Osprey				1	1		0.3
White-tailed Kite						1	0.2
Cooper’s Hawk	1						0.2
Red-tailed Hawk		1		2		2	0.8
Merlin						1	0.2
Sora			1				0.2
American Coot	15		28	75	33	42	32.2
Blk-bellied Plover	45	71	55	46	64	115	66.0
Snowy Plover	41	36	44	36	45	35	39.5
Semipalmated Plover	2	10		4	2	1	3.2
Killdeer	6	3	3	8	5	12	6.2
Black Oystercatcher	1						0.2
Black-necked Stilt		2					0.3
Spotted Sandpiper	2	2	1	2	4	2	2.2
Wandering Tattler				1			0.2
Greater Yellowlegs					2		0.3
Willet	18	16	10	4	2	15	10.8
Lesser Yellowlegs		1					0.2
Whimbrel	12	29	8	41	52	53	32.5
Marbled Godwit	3	2		2			1.2
Ruddy Turnstone	4	11	3	4	9	6	6.2
Black Turnstone		1					0.2
Sanderling	20	105	30	15	1		28.5
Western Sandpiper	12	8	4	11		2	6.2
Least Sandpiper	13	3	4	6	6	2	5.7
Pectoral Sandpiper					1		0.2
Short-billd Dowitcher	1	3			3	2	1.5
Red-necked Phalarope				7			1.2
Heermann’s Gull	8	21	62	24	17	48	30.0
Ring-billed Gull		2			4		1.0
Western Gull	108	132	66	146	134	110	116.0
California Gull	1	1	3	8	4		2.8
Least Tern	20	1					3.5
Caspian Tern		1	13	12			4.3
Common Tern	2						0.3
Forster’s Tern	2		5	3	1	1	2.0
Royal Tern		3	2	18	3	5	5.2
Elegant Tern	4	1	45	36	69	130	47.5
Black Skimmer			103	1			17.3
Rock Pigeon	3	6	4	5	12	16	7.7
Mourning Dove		4	3	2	2	2	2.2
Anna’s Hummingbird		1	2	4		1	1.3
Allen’s Hummingbird	2	2	4		7	9	4.0
Belted Kingfisher			1	2		1	0.7
Nuttall’s Woodpecker				1			0.2
Downy Woodpecker			1				0.2
Western Wood-Pewee						1	0.2
Black Phoebe	3	6	5	10	8	17	8.2
Cassin’s Kingbird	1		1				0.3
Western Kingbird	5	2	4	4	4	8	4.5
Western Scrub-Jay					2	1	0.5
American Crow	5	3	4	3	5	5	4.2
Rough-wingd Swallow	1	3	3	22	2	1	5.3
Tree Swallow			1				0.2
Barn Swallow	6	25	8	45	22	28	22.3
Cliff Swallow		2		2	1	1	1.0
Oak Titmouse				2			0.3
Bushtit			17	6	14	55	15.3
Bewick’s Wren				1	2		0.5
House Wren	1					1	0.3
Marsh Wren	1						0.2
Northern Mockingbird	1	2	5	3	4	1	2.7
European Starling	15	8	7	20	28	55	22.2
Ornge-crwnd Warbler						1	0.2
Yellow-rumpd Warbler		2				1	0.5
Common Yellowthroat	4	1	5	8	1	6	4.2
Wilson’s Warbler				1		1	0.3
California Towhee			1		1	2	0.7
Savannah Sparrow						1	0.2
Song Sparrow	3	4	3	5	3	20	6.3
Lincoln’s Sparrow						1	0.2
Western Tanager			1				0.2
Red-winged Blackbird		1	2	32			5.8
Brewer’s Blackbird						2	0.3
Great-tailed Grackle				5	7	8	3.3
Brwn-headed Cowbird			1				0.2
Hooded Oriole	1		1				0.3
Bullock’s Oriole					1	3	0.7
House Finch	4	5	4	8		15	6.0
Lesser Goldfinch			3	4		16	3.8
Totals by Type	8/24	8/23	8/22	8/28	8/26	8/25	Ave.
Waterfowl	42	39	71	65	36	55	51
Water Birds-Other	53	204	231	221	121	255	181
Herons, Egrets	38	32	37	24	20	21	29
Raptors	1	1	0	3	1	4	2
Shorebirds	180	303	162	187	196	245	212
Gulls & Terns	145	162	299	248	232	294	230
Doves	3	10	7	7	14	18	10
Other Non-Pass.	2	3	8	7	7	11	6
Passerines	51	64	76	181	105	251	121
Totals Birds	515	818	891	943	732	1154	842
	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Total Species	8/24	8/23	8/22	8/28	8/26	8/25	Ave.
Waterfowl	1	2	4	2	2	2	2.2
Water Birds-Other	5	3	5	6	8	6	5.5
Herons, Egrets	4	4	5	4	3	4	4.0
Raptors	1	1	0	2	1	3	1.3
Shorebirds	14	16	10	14	13	11	13.0
Gulls & Terns	7	8	8	8	7	5	7.2
Doves	1	2	2	2	2	2	1.8
Other Non-Pass.	1	2	4	3	1	3	2.3
Passerines	14	13	19	18	16	25	17.5
Totals Species	48	51	57	59	53	61	54.8