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The Plovers are coming! The plovers are coming!

July 10, 2013
by

As close to Independence Day as we’ve recorded in L.A. County. The vanguard of the Snowy Plover flock made its appearance at two beaches today. I was surprised to see a female land right in front of Lifeguard Station 6 on Santa Monica Beach this afternoon, a good 10 days earlier than the first record of the year in my memory. When I sent a text message to Stacey Vigallon, the LA Audubon coordinator, she answered that she had seen Plovers at Malibu Lagoon this morning. They are expected to live on our beaches through the month of April. Welcome, Little Guys!

Kestrel Photoshow

July 7, 2013

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Go to the blog to see all 21 pictures in the slideshow.  For the most part the photos are self-explanatory.

With two exceptions, the photos were taken on June 17, 2013. Two nests were involved, with significant age differences between the two groups of nestlings.

Kestrel Team Leader, Don McCartney, provided the following comment on Kestrel chick meals, which sheds light on some of the pictures.

Quite a handful - now I know why the parents build nests  (Don & Diana Roberts 6/17/13)

Quite a handful – now I know why the parents build nests
(Don & Diana Roberts 6/17/13)

We have documented some of the rather amazing eating habits of nestling Kestrels. One photo, taken in Wisconsin in 2005, shows an approximately 18-day old female slooowly devouring a snake. Another photo shows a little glutton on the Crooked River Ranch, who was being retrieved for banding from its nestbox by volunteer Marilynne Keyser. Several photos show close-ups of the bird as it devours a western fence lizard. It’s too bad that we didn’t have the time to check on the progress of the nestling/lizard situation a day or two later.

Looks like a western fence lizard  (Don & Diana Roberts 6/17/13)

It’s a western fence lizard
(Don & Diana Roberts 6/17/13)

How do they do this? Once the chicks reach a certain size, the adults drop the intact reptile in the box rather than tearing them to pieces. Specialized mouth parts, including the median ridge, keep the prey progressing inward while allowing the nestling to breathe. It is very often interesting to check the remains of prey in the boxes to discover the animals on which the Kestrels have been dining.

*****************
Photographers Don & Diana Roberts live in the small town of Prineville, northeast of Bend, Oregon, just east of the central Cascade Mountains. Don is a professional fly fisherman, photographer and writer; Diana is an avid birder and photographer, as is Marilynne Keyser, the intrepid bird-handler in many of the photos. The fellow in the straw hat and holding the ID booklet is Don McCartney; when Jim Anderson isn’t checking wings and ringing  the legs of  birds, he’s resting in his portable lawn chair.    [Chuck Almdale]

Least Tern Monitoring in L.A. County

July 4, 2013

Stacey Vigallon reports on this year’s Least Tern monitoring:

Least Tern chick

Terrifically cute Least Tern chick

1) The Least Terns arrived like clockwork in April at the Venice Beach colony enclosure. As happens every year, predation of the eggs by crows is happening, but the terns are still doing their best, and they’re definitely roosting there at night. The terns seem to be spending a considerable amount of time away from the colony, which may possibly indicate that food resources are not conveniently close or plentiful this year. In short, we’ve done what we can to make sure the Venice colony enclosure has great habitat for nesting, but there are factors out of our control (crows, food resources) that definitely affect the terns. We’ve been told that other colonies in Southern California have also experienced lower numbers of Least Terns this year. As the nesting season progresses, we will likely start to see groups of Least Tern adults and fledglings from other colonies arriving at the Venice colony and adjacent beach in mid to late July. To ID the fledglings, keep an eye out for the Least Terns that don’t have the crisp uniform of black cap and yellow bill – juvenile Least Terns are pretty much adult-size but they’re sloppier dressers.

Least Tern brings fish gift to prospective mate
(Wendy Miller – Huntington Beach – May’13)

2) Crows… Every year they present a challenge, and every year we get lots of questions about them. Crows and their relatives, ravens and jays (collectively called “corvids”), can be predators pretty much wherever their range overlaps with any other nesting species. Whether it’s plovers and terns on southern California beaches, marbled murrelets in Pacific Northwest forests, or baby tortoises in the Mojave desert, predation by corvids can be a real problem. They are extremely smart and typically well-adapted to humans and the way we alter the landscape. In Los Angeles, we have created excellent crow habitat where none previously existed by replacing coastal sage scrub and wetland habitat with lawns (which means year-round water and invertebrate food sources), trees for nesting, and plentiful food waste. We have worked with wildlife management agencies at the Venice site for years, and everyone is very well aware of the problem.

More fish business (Wendy Miller - Huntington Beach - May'13)

More fish business
(Wendy Miller – Huntington Beach – May’13)

3) But, what we currently lack in tern-viewing, we can make up for in other bird species… If you have time to branch out from the beach, LA Audubon will be offering guided (free!) birdwalks at Topanga State Park, Franklin Canyon Park, and the Ballona Wetlands in July. Here’s a link to info about birdwalks:
http://losangelesaudubon.org/index.php/recreation-mainmenu-189/bird-walks-mainmenu-190/486-bird-walks

Even more fish business (Wendy Miller - Huntington Beach - May'13)

Even more fish business
(Wendy Miller – Huntington Beach – May’13)

If you want a more intensive birding experience, check out the LA Audubon field trips too. The August 3rd shorebird ID trip along the LA River is also free and it can really get you started identifying shorebirds. Here’s a link:
http://losangelesaudubon.org/index.php/component/jevents/icalrepeat.detail/2013/08/03/721/309/lower-la-river-shorebird-migration-field-trip-with-larry-allen?Itemid=1
[Stacey Vigallon – Los Angeles Audubon Society Least Tern Monitoring Project World HQ]

Santa Monica Bay Audubon will again be offering a field trip – focusing on shorebirds – in the latter half of August to the lower Los Angeles River.  Details to be posted on this blog.    [Chuck Almdale]
The final four photos on this blog were kindly shared with us by Wendy Miller, Least Tern Monitor Volunteer at the Huntington Beach colony in Orange county.  Check out the rest of her many photos here on Flickr. I have also placed a permanent link to these photos in the “Bird Links” section on the right sidebar.

Adult Least Tern with chick  (Wendy Miller - Huntington Beach - May'13)

Adult Least Tern with chick
(Wendy Miller – Huntington Beach – May’13)

 

Malibu Lagoon Trip lists January – June 2013

June 30, 2013

This list was created at a later date in order to have a complete record on the blog site.  [Chuck Almdale]

Malibu Census 2013 1/27 2/24 3/24 4/28 5/26 6/23
Temperature 52-62 55-65 60-75 57-68 63-64 62-75
Tide Lo/Hi Height H +5.76 H +5.50 H +4.90 L -1.10 H +4.08 H +4.22
Tide Time 0849 0802 0806 0609 1138 1037
Brant 15 3 1
Gadwall 34 13 13 12 2 2
American Wigeon 7
Mallard 45 14 28 30 5 59
Northern Shoveler 22 22 2 1
Northern Pintail 4 2
Green-winged Teal 19 1
Surf Scoter 15 5
Bufflehead 10 14
Common Merganser 6
Red-brstd Merganser 6 3 12 3
Ruddy Duck 55 41 55 20
Red-throated Loon 2 2 2
Pacific Loon 5 2 3 1
Common Loon 1
Pied-billed Grebe 2 2 4 6 3 8
Horned Grebe 2 1
Eared Grebe 7 1
Western Grebe 46 2 1 28
Clark’s Grebe 1
Blk-vented Shearwater 200
Brandt’s Cormorant 7 4 1 7 2
Dble-crstd Cormorant 33 40 15 22 9 17
Pelagic Cormorant 2 1
Brown Pelican 73 10 35 34 7 52
Great Blue Heron 4 1 1 2 2 2
Great Egret 1 1 2 3 2
Snowy Egret 9 1 5 9 3 8
Blk-crwnd N-Heron 1 1 2
Turkey Vulture 1 2
Osprey 1 1
White-tailed Kite 1 1 1
Cooper’s Hawk 1 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1 2 1 2
Merlin 1
American Coot 270 82 170 58 1 6
Blk-bellied Plover 62 50
Snowy Plover 61 36 33 6 1
Semipalmated Plover 8 2
Killdeer 2 1 2 2 6 4
Black Oystercatcher 2
American Avocet 3
Spotted Sandpiper 3 1 2
Willet 7 1 16 1 1
Whimbrel 3 28 8 1
Long-billed Curlew 2
Marbled Godwit 15 2 12
Ruddy Turnstone 10 1
Sanderling 17 170
Western Sandpiper 2
Short-billd Dowitcher 2
Heermann’s Gull 12 14 35 18
Mew Gull 2
Ring-billed Gull 90 120 25 1
Western Gull 75 40 35 112 22 62
California Gull 480 280 30 25 1 1
Herring Gull 1 1
Glaucous-wingd Gull 1 2 1 3
Caspian Tern 6 2 6
Royal Tern 2 3 3 5 3
Elegant Tern 2 134 121 14
Black Skimmer 2
Rock Pigeon 8 1 25 12 9
Band-tailed Pigeon 5
Mourning Dove 2 5 2
Blk-hooded Parakeet 4
White-throated Swift 1
Anna’s Hummingbird 1 1 1 1 1 2
Allen’s Hummingbird 5 3 5 4 1 10
Belted Kingfisher 1 1 1
Black Phoebe 4 5 7 2 12
Say’s Phoebe 1
Cassin’s Kingbird 1 1
Western Scrub-Jay 1 1 1 1
American Crow 3 7 8 4 3 8
Common Raven 1
Rough-wingd Swallow 12 10 1
Tree Swallow 10
Barn Swallow 1 6 6 23
Cliff Swallow 12 14 2
Oak Titmouse 2 1 1 1
Bushtit 10 5 4 10 1
Bewick’s Wren 1 1 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
American Robin 1
Wrentit 1
Northern Mockingbird 2 2 2 5 3 6
European Starling 22 52 16 4 3 65
Ornge-crwnd Warbler 1 7
Yellow-rumpd Warbler 14 2
Common Yellowthroat 3 2
Spotted Towhee 1
California Towhee 1 2 2 1 6
Savannah Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 8 2 8 15 8 15
Lincoln’s Sparrow 1
White-crwnd Sparrow 6 4 5
Red-winged Blackbird 9 2
Brewer’s Blackbird 1 2
Great-tailed Grackle 5 7 5 4 4
Brwn-headed Cowbird 3
Hooded Oriole 1
House Finch 2 3 2 8 3 14
Lesser Goldfinch 1 2 4 2
House Sparrow 5
Totals by Type Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Waterfowl 217 131 115 68 9 61
Water Birds-Other 649 142 234 160 20 85
Herons, Egrets 13 3 7 14 9 14
Raptors 3 3 6 1 2 3
Shorebirds 183 260 92 32 10 9
Gulls & Terns 663 445 94 297 189 104
Doves 8 1 25 14 5 16
Other Non-Pass. 7 5 11 5 2 13
Passerines 75 114 89 75 76 169
Totals Birds 1818 1104 673 666 322 474
             
Total Species Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Waterfowl 10 10 6 5 4 2
Water Birds-Other 12 7 11 10 4 5
Herons, Egrets 2 3 3 4 4 4
Raptors 3 2 5 1 2 2
Shorebirds 10 6 6 9 4 4
Gulls & Terns 8 5 6 7 8 6
Doves 1 1 1 2 1 3
Other Non-Pass. 3 3 4 2 2 3
Passerines 16 15 19 16 17 19
Totals Species – 106 65 52 61 56 46 48

Malibu Lagoon Trip Report: 23 June, 2013

June 26, 2013

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It seems weird when June at the beach is cold, but 62-75° is actually fairly common – June gloom, and all that.  A light breeze made it downright chilly, although if you’re not a SoCal resident, being chilled at 62° may seem absurd. So it goes. All things are relative; some are more relative than others.

Vegetating hillside flowers (L. Johnson 6/23/13)

Vegetating hillside flowers (L. Johnson 6/23/13)

The beach breach had filled in, although most of Surfrider Beach seemed to be missing. Rocks and timbers from long-vanished piers were exposed, and a 6-ft cliff of sand was just below the lifeguard station near the pier. Waves from the most recent high tide had washed completely across the beach and into the lagoon.  Speaking of the lagoon, the newly enlarged channel seems to have developed a sizable mat of floating greenish-brown algae. The now-superseded narrow channels also sported thick summer coatings of algae, but more surface area seems to mean more algae.  I hope this stuff doesn’t turn into the stinking cesspool we used to get. Flowers are popping up everywhere, but the need for weeding has also become quite evident.

View towards colony across channel island & algae (L. Johnson 6/23/13)

View towards colony across channel island & algae
(L. Johnson 6/23/13)

Most of the ducks (see trip list below) were in the channel and on it’s several islands when we arrived, as were the Pied-billed Grebes and the few coots. I think the ducks spend the night on the islands, surrounded by the security of water as islands (by definition) typically are. By 10am on they had spread all over the lagoon and channel. I had just gotten my binoculars out of the trunk when two Long-billed Curlew glided in from the west to settle on the channel shore. But they prefer grassy fields or deep, invertebrate-filled mud for feeding, and they soon moved on. Several pairs of Killdeer also strolled the channel shore; we searched for little Killdeer (Killdeerettes?) but they’re extremely cryptic at best, and we could see none, if indeed any were present. Crows – who ate the eggs which Least Terns recently laid in the Snowy Plover enclosure – relish chicks just as much as they do eggs.  The terns gave it up as a bad bet and moved on to safer pastures.

Brown Pelican numbers may be beginning to recover – 52 was more than we’ve seen since last January, but still well below the 177 average for 2007-12. Gull & tern numbers also remain well below average, with 104 total birds less than half of the average 229 for 2007-12. Barn Swallows, however, swarmed the beach, scooping up the abundant “flies” springing from clumps of kelp-wrack, and a few birders were reminded that just because they’re not “all rusty” underneath doesn’t mean they’re not Barn Swallows. The Mallards rebounded from May’s count of 5 to 59; most were juveniles, and were probably literally “up the creek” last month, when we found only 5, as they sure didn’t fly in from anywhere. Speaking of ‘elsewhere’, there were 22 herons & egrets in the nesting tree behind Starbucks across the street who are not included in the census below.

Unexpected and uncommon at the lagoon – besides the curlews – were five Band-tailed Pigeons perched on a snag near PCH and a juvenile American Robin at Adamson House. The lower half of this bird’s breast was a typical rusty-red, while the top half was reddish spots on a pale background.

Heermann's and Western Gulls (L. Johnson 6/23/13)

Heermann’s and Western Gulls (L. Johnson 6/23/13)

A few people brought their lunches and had a get-together after the walk, but there was no official picnic, per se. We learned afterwards that a few families came for the 10am Parents & Kids birdwalk, but couldn’t find anyone in the parking lot and left.  For future reference, the leaders for all walks will start from the metal-shaded gathering area next to the parking lot, which is where they waited this time, apparently invisible from the parking lot through the ever-growing thicket of willows.

Our next three field trips:   Mt. Piños Birds & Butterflies, 29-30 June; Malibu Lagoon, 28 July, 8:30am; Malibu Lagoon, 25 August, 8:30am.
Our next program:  Tuesday, 1 Oct., 7:30 pm. Blog-announced, as usual.
NOTE: Our 10 a.m. Parent’s & Kids Birdwalk has resumed, meeting at the shaded viewing area near the parking lot.

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 ’10Jan-June ’10, Jul-Dec ‘09, and Jan-June ‘09.

Comments on Bird Lists Below (No count available for June 2008)
Total Birds:
   June total birds of 474 are 24% below the 6-year average, which is an improvement from the previous 4 months; low numbers are mainly in Brown Pelicans and Gulls & Terns (-104 each).
Summary of total birds from the 6-year average so far:  June +36%, July -9%, Aug. -9%, Sep. +12%, Oct. +3%, Nov -5%, Dec +30%, Jan -20%, Feb -29%, March -30%, April -34%, May -37%, June -24%. Recovering?
Species Diversity:  June 2013 with 48 species was 13% above the 6-year average of 42.7.
Summary of species diversity from the 6-year average so far:  June -10%, July +10%, Aug. -6%, Sep. -20%, Oct. +5%, Nov +2%, Dec -4%, Jan +2%, Feb -8%, March +9%, April -2%, May +3%, June +13%.
10-year comparison summaries are available on our Lagoon Project Bird Census Page.     [Chuck Almdale]

 Malibu Census 2007 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
2007-2013
6/24 6/28 6/27 6/26 6/24 6/23
Temperature   68-75 65-75 68-76 70-76 62-75
Tide Lo/Hi Height L -0.3 L +0.4 H +3.81 H +3.0 L +0.07 H +4.22 Ave.
Tide Time 0640 0838 1139 0754 0714 1037 Birds
Brant 1 1 11 2.2
Gadwall 14 15 4 5 2 2 7.0
Mallard 40 25 40 41 24 59 38.2
Red-brstd Merganser 1 0.2
Ruddy Duck 6 7 2.2
Pied-billed Grebe 4 2 2 3 4 8 3.8
Clark’s Grebe 1 0.2
Brandt’s Cormorant 2 0.3
Dble-crstd Cormorant 6 22 5 54 17 17 20.2
Pelagic Cormorant 1 3 0.7
Brown Pelican 239 71 205 28 340 52 155.8
Great Blue Heron 3 8 6 4 1 2 4.0
Great Egret 4 3 2 5 2 2.7
Snowy Egret 8 14 14 8 4 8 9.3
Little Blue Egret 1 0.2
Green Heron 3 1 0.7
Blk-crwnd N-Heron 5 3 6 1 2 2.8
Osprey 1 1 0.3
White-tailed Kite 1 1 0.3
Cooper’s Hawk 1 1 0.3
Red-shouldered Hawk 1 0.2
Red-tailed Hawk 1 1 2 2 1.0
Peregrine Falcon 1 0.2
American Coot 20 22 5 12 4 6 11.5
Blk-bellied Plover 15 2.5
Killdeer 2 5 1 4 2.0
Black Oystercatcher 1 0.2
Willet 3 3 1 1.2
Whimbrel 5 8 2.2
Long-billed Curlew 2 0.3
Western Sandpiper 1 2 0.5
Short-billed Dowitcher 2 0.3
Boneparte’s Gull 2 0.3
Heermann’s Gull 16 48 17 15 44 18 26.3
Ring-billed Gull 7 1.2
Western Gull 380 72 61 68 84 62 121.2
California Gull 1 1 1 0.5
Caspian Tern 3 9 10 1 6 4.8
Forster’s Tern 4 0.7
Royal Tern 6 2 1 4 3 2.7
Elegant Tern 25 15 4 240 14 49.7
Black Skimmer 5 1 1.0
Rock Pigeon 4 6 4 4 3 9 5.0
Band-tailed Pigeon 5 0.8
Mourning Dove 4 4 5 1 2 2.7
White-throated Swift 1 0.2
Anna’s Hummingbird 1 2 2 1 3 2 1.8
Allen’s Hummingbird 1 4 1 8 10 4.0
Belted Kingfisher 1 0.2
Downy Woodpecker 1 0.2
Black Phoebe 2 15 2 10 5 12 7.7
Cassin’s Kingbird 1 1 0.3
Western Scrub-Jay 1 1 0.3
American Crow 6 12 4 4 4 8 6.3
Rough-wingd Swallow 4 6 6 1 2.8
Barn Swallow 30 8 40 25 4 23 21.7
Cliff Swallow 8 7 30 15 4 2 11.0
Oak Titmouse 1 1 0.3
Bushtit 9 4 8 1 3.7
Marsh Wren 1 0.2
American Robin 1 0.2
Wrentit 1 0.2
Northern Mockingbird 3 2 2 3 6 6 3.7
European Starling 8 20 65 21 5 65 30.7
Common Yellowthroat 3 1 1 1 2 1.3
Spotted Towhee 2 0.3
California Towhee 1 4 1 6 2.0
Song Sparrow 4 6 3 3 6 15 6.2
Red-winged Blackbird 1 55 2 9.7
Great-tailed Grackle 3 3 2 4 2.0
Brwn-headed Cowbird 1 1 2 1 3 1.3
Hooded Oriole 4 1 1 1.0
Bullock’s Oriole 1 2 0.5
House Finch 5 6 4 14 8 14 8.5
Lesser Goldfinch 2 4 2 1.3
House Sparrow 8 2 1.7
Totals by Type 6/24 6/28 6/27 6/26 6/24 6/23 Ave.
Waterfowl 62 41 62 46 26 61 50
Water Birds-Other 271 117 217 97 368 85 193
Herons, Egrets 24 28 28 19 5 14 20
Raptors 2 3 1 4 1 3 2
Shorebirds 3 9 2 7 25 9 9
Gulls & Terns 433 139 105 96 373 104 208
Doves 4 10 8 9 4 16 9
Other Non-Pass. 2 6 3 2 12 13 6
Passerines 96 93 220 122 49 169 125
Totals Birds 897 446 646 402 863 474 621
  2007 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Total Species 6/24 6/28 6/27 6/26 6/24 6/23 Ave.
Waterfowl 5 3 4 2 2 2 3.0
Water Birds-Other 6 4 4 4 5 5 4.7
Herons, Egrets 6 4 4 5 2 4 4.2
Raptors 2 3 1 3 1 2 2.0
Shorebirds 1 3 1 2 4 4 2.5
Gulls & Terns 6 5 7 6 5 6 5.8
Doves 1 2 2 2 2 3 2.0
Other Non-Pass. 2 2 2 2 3 3 2.3
Passerines 15 16 15 19 13 19 16.2
Totals Species – 76 44 42 40 45 37 48 42.7