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Prop 21: A Legacy For California State Parks
Did you know that 52 Audubon California Important Bird Areas are at least partially owned by California State Parks, totaling 156,000 acres?
Audubon California, The Nature Conservancy, Save the Redwood League and California State Parks Foundation are sponsors of The State Parks & Wildlife Conservation Trust Fund Act (“State Parks Initiative”) appearing on the November 2, 2010 statewide ballot as Proposition 21.
Prop 21 works like this-
Vehicles registered in California will get a free, year round day use admission to all California state parks in exchange for a new annual $18 vehicle license fee, a considerable savings if you go to more than two State parks in a year.
The funding will provide a stable, reliable and adequate source of funding for the state park system, for wildlife conservation and for increased and equitable access to those resources for all Californians.
The parks budget will no longer be subject to cuts by the legislature or the Governor, the Trust Fund cannot be borrowed from or raided, and our state Parks can begin work on acquisitions and deferred maintenance once the funds become available.
The passage of this proposition is a conservation legacy that all of us Audubon members in California can leave to future generations!
But the proposition faces opposition. YES ON 21 needs volunteers to organize campaigns in cities, towns, neighborhoods and communities.
If you can give any volunteer time to the campaign please go to http://yesforstateparks.com/ and GET INVOLVED.
Save our State Parks and help pass Proposition 21 in November!
[Chuck Almdale – for Audubon California]
Although stormy weather was predicted for the coastal area on Saturday, we were able to avoid rain except for a 20-minute shower. Clouds kept things comfortable until about 1pm when the sun appeared and turned on the heat. We met Richard Barth of the Los Angeles Audubon chapter, just north of Willow St. where the Los Angeles River runs almost parallel to the 710 freeway. From the very start Richard was eager to share his knowledge of birds and the area’s natural resources. He believes this seven-mile stretch of the LA River deserves far more attention from birders’, especially during the fall shorebird migration season late July through early October. Even though we were past the peak shorebird migration season, all participants were well satisfied with great looks at some infrequently-seen birds and substantial numbers of waders. We made six car-hopping stops along the river from Willow St. in Long Beach to Rosecrans Blvd. in Paramount. The highlight which many participants wanted to revisit was De Forest Park in Long Beach, a half-mile riverside strip with mature trees and river views. Many thanks from all to Richard Barth, one of the most experienced birders in LA County! Next year, we plan to visit the river during peak season in August or September. Lucien Plauzoles
| LOS ANGELES RIVER BIRD LIST |
| Gadwall |
| American Wigeon |
| Mallard |
| Blue-winged Teal |
| Cinnamon Teal |
| Northern Shoveler |
| Northern Pintail |
| Green-winged Teal |
| Double-crested Cormorant |
| Great Blue Heron |
| Great Egret |
| Snowy Egret |
| Green Heron |
| Black-crowned Night Heron |
| Turkey Vulture |
| Osprey |
| American Kestrel |
| Peregrine Falcon |
| American Coot |
| Black-bellied Plover |
| Killdeer |
| Black-necked Stilt |
| American Avocet |
| Spotted Sandpiper |
| Greater Yellowlegs |
| Lesser Yellowlegs |
| Western Sandpiper |
| Least Sandpiper |
| Dunlin |
| Long-billed Dowitcher |
| Ring-billed Gull |
| Western Gull |
| California Gull |
| Rock Pigeon |
| Eurasian Collared Dove |
| Mourning Dove |
| Anna’s Hummingbird |
| Allen’s Hummingbird |
| Black Phoebe |
| Say’s Phoebe |
| Western Kingbird |
| Warbling Vireo |
| Western Scrub-Jay |
| American Crow |
| Bushtit |
| House Wren |
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher |
| Northern Mockingbird |
| European Starling |
| Orange-crowned Warbler |
| Yellow Warbler |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler |
| Townsend’s Warbler |
| Common Yellowthroat |
| California Towhee |
| Red-winged Blackbird |
| Yellow-headed Blackbird |
| Brown-headed Cowbird |
| House Finch |
| Lesser Goldfinch |
| American Goldfinch |
| Nutmeg Mannikin |
| 62 Species |
Malibu Lagoon Trip Report, 26 September, 2010
We start off with a mystery bird this month.
Mystery Bird (J.Waterman 9/26/10)
What do you think it is? Joyce Waterman snapped this about 11 am. She, I, and (to settle matters) local bird maven Kimball Garrett, all agreed on what it is. Answer is at the bottom of this report, following the trip list.
Summer is technically gone but summer heat finally showed up, bringing loads of birds. When you look out over Santa Monica Bay and see a thin line of brown air to the west, you know it’s “Santa Ana conditions”: do not breathe deeply. My car thermometer claimed it was only 79° at 11:30, but I’m sure it was lying. Nevertheless, we had a throng of birders.
Eastern Kingbird (Frank/Susan Gilliland 9/25/10)
A twitchathon started last Tuesday when Todd McGrath reported both Eastern and Tropical Kingbirds at the lagoon. We’ve hosted Tropical Kingbird (this one soon disappeared) previously: Oct.’01 – Feb.’02 and Oct.’04, so we almost expect it, but the Eastern was a first. Loads of people saw it on Saturday during the Annual Coastal Cleanup, but no one I met saw it today. Disappointment was endemic.
Fortunately, the Gray Flycatcher – another first for the lagoon on our monthly field trips – was still around, and everyone got good looks, even watching its tail slowly drop and quickly rise. There certainly were plenty of water-hovering flies. Wrens and warblers were relatively common, for the lagoon. Also reported were Lazuli Bunting and Lawrence’s Goldfinch, both sighted only twice before on our field trips. I suspect that the presence of the Eastern Kingbird twitcher-throng turned up a few more species than usual. We recorded a record 78 species, beating the Sept. ’04 total of 76 species.
Black Tern juvenile (J.Kenney 9/26/10)
The ocean was flat, the tide was high, the offshore rocks were birdless and self-respecting surfers were elsewhere. The sandy island in the lagoon, however, was covered with birds. Among the Elegant Terns were 8 (uncommon) Common Terns and 1 juvenile Black Tern, previously recorded by us only once in Aug.’88. They were very nice to see. The Black Skimmers had all left, taking the Caspian Terns with them. The sole Pectoral Sandpiper remaining was on the grassy margin of the middle channel. The Brants, which looked really ratty in August were now in very nice plumage. They’ve been at the lagoon for over 6 months: we don’t know why, but it’s nice to have them around. Only one Wilson’s Phalarope remained of the small group that appeared earlier in the month. Our Snowy Plover population jumped up to 62, another record high, beating the Oct.’09 count of 61. Perhaps this signifies that 2010 was a good breeding year for the Snowies.
The July-Sept chart below will continue to grow monthly through December, but six months of data is all I can squeeze into this blog format. For prior periods, follow these links to Jan-Jun‘10, Jul-Dec‘09, and Jan-June‘09. [Chuck Almdale]
| Malibu Census – 2010 | July 25 | Aug 22 | Sep 26 |
| Temperature | 60-67 | 68-75 | 70-79 |
| Tide Height | +4.05 | +4.32 | +5.54 |
| Low/High & Time | H:1036 | H:0933 | H:1055 |
| (Black) Brant | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| Gadwall | 20 | ||
| American Wigeon | 1 | ||
| Mallard | 49 | 55 | 48 |
| Northern Shoveler | 4 | ||
| Northern Pintail | 6 | ||
| Ruddy Duck | 3 | 5 | 15 |
| Pied-billed Grebe | 5 | 9 | 18 |
| Eared Grebe | 2 | ||
| Western Grebe | 4 | ||
| Brown Pelican | 187 | 163 | 46 |
| Dble-crstd Cormorant | 20 | 30 | 38 |
| Great Blue Heron | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| Great Egret | 4 | 4 | 6 |
| Snowy Egret | 14 | 19 | 14 |
| Green Heron | 1 | 1 | |
| Blk-crwnd N-Heron | 4 | 7 | 10 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 | ||
| Merlin | 1 | ||
| Sora | 1 | 1 | |
| American Coot | 15 | 28 | 230 |
| Blk-bellied Plover | 55 | 78 | |
| Snowy Plover | 26 | 44 | 62 |
| Semipalmated Plover | 6 | 11 | |
| Killdeer | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Willet | 7 | 10 | 56 |
| Spotted Sandpiper | 1 | 2 | |
| Whimbrel | 48 | 8 | 17 |
| Long-billed Curlew | 1 | ||
| Marbled Godwit | 22 | ||
| Ruddy Turnstone | 3 | 3 | 10 |
| Black Turnstone | 8 | ||
| Sanderling | 4 | 30 | 20 |
| Western Sandpiper | 20 | 4 | 28 |
| Least Sandpiper | 2 | 4 | 14 |
| Pectoral Sandpiper | 1 | ||
| Short-billed Dowitcher | 1 | ||
| Wilson’s Phalarope | 1 | ||
| Heermann’s Gull | 125 | 62 | 68 |
| Ring-billed Gull | 4 | 30 | |
| California Gull | 1 | 3 | 22 |
| Western Gull | 80 | 66 | 73 |
| Caspian Tern | 13 | 13 | |
| Royal Tern | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Elegant Tern | 10 | 45 | 40 |
| Common Tern | 8 | ||
| Forster’s Tern | 5 | 6 | |
| Least Tern | 36 | ||
| Black Tern | 1 | ||
| Black Skimmer | 35 | 103 | |
| Rock Pigeon | 6 | 4 | 12 |
| Mourning Dove | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| Anna’s Hummingbird | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Allen’s Hummingbird | 6 | 4 | 1 |
| Belted Kingfisher | 1 | 1 | |
| Downy Woodpecker | 1 | ||
| Gray Flycatcher | 1 | ||
| Black Phoebe | 2 | 5 | 5 |
| Cassin’s Kingbird | 1 | 2 | |
| Western Kingbird | 4 | 4 | |
| American Crow | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| Tree Swallow | 1 | ||
| Rough-wingd Swallow | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| Cliff Swallow | 10 | ||
| Barn Swallow | 20 | 8 | 1 |
| Bushtit | 6 | 17 | 11 |
| Bewick’s Wren | 1 | ||
| House Wren | 2 | ||
| Marsh Wren | 4 | ||
| Northern Mockingbird | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| European Starling | 80 | 7 | 62 |
| Yellow Warbler | 2 | ||
| Townsend’s Warbler | 1 | ||
| Common Yellowthroat | 4 | 5 | 4 |
| Wilson’s Warbler | 1 | ||
| Western Tanager | 1 | ||
| California Towhee | 2 | 1 | |
| Savannah Sparrow | 1 | ||
| Song Sparrow | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| White-crwnd Sparrow | 4 | ||
| Blue Grosbeak | 1 | ||
| Lazuli Bunting | 6 | ||
| Red-winged Blackbird | 1 | 2 | 14 |
| Western Meadowlark | 3 | ||
| Brewer’s Blackbird | 15 | ||
| Brwn-headed Cowbird | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| Hooded Oriole | 4 | 1 | |
| House Finch | 2 | 4 | 10 |
| Lesser Goldfinch | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Lawrence’s Goldfinch | 2 | ||
| Totals by Type | Jul 25 | Aug 22 | Sep 26 |
| Waterfowl | 58 | 71 | 93 |
| Water Birds-Other | 227 | 231 | 339 |
| Herons, Egrets | 28 | 37 | 36 |
| Quail & Raptors | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Shorebirds | 127 | 162 | 325 |
| Gulls & Terns | 306 | 299 | 249 |
| Doves | 10 | 7 | 14 |
| Other Non-Pass. | 7 | 8 | 4 |
| Passerines | 152 | 76 | 176 |
| Totals Birds | 916 | 891 | 1237 |
| Total Species | Jul 25 | Aug 22 | Sep 26 |
| Waterfowl | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| Water Birds-Other | 4 | 5 | 7 |
| Herons, Egrets | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Quail & Raptors | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Shorebirds | 10 | 10 | 16 |
| Gulls & Terns | 9 | 8 | 9 |
| Doves | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Other Non-Pass. | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| Passerines | 16 | 19 | 29 |
| Totals Species – 90 | 51 | 57 | 78 |
The mystery bird is a female or hatch year Blue Grosbeak.
Coastal Cleanup at Malibu Lagoon, 25 September, 2010
The lagoon outlet had filled up with sand, so the lagoon water level was high. The veteran trash pickers among us thought the trash levels were lower than usual. Whether this signifies some sort of trend is unknown, but I – for one – doubt it.
A behatted Jean, avant le déluge (L.Johnson 9/10)
Ellen Vahan and Jean Garrett again organized and managed the Malibu Lagoon operation admirably. We had a record turnout of 275 people who collectively collected 127 bags of trash totaling 297 lbs. in under 3 hours. Three busloads of students showed up, including 60 students and their teachers from Centennial High School in Compton. As usual, little pieces of styrofoam food & drink containers and colored shards of plastic were the most numerous forms of trash.I hope no one is under the illusion that this stuff is even remotely biodegradable. The pieces just get smaller and smaller. Are we supposed to believe that they’ll eventually “disappear into infinity” as did The Incredible Shrinking Man?
Recyclable bottles were down considerably, probably the effect of the 10-cent deposit combined with the economic downturn. Our significant “recyclable by nature” item was a dead and very flat coyote, discovered out in the pickleweed (which truly does tastes like a pickle – the plant, not the coyote).
Not merely resting, but an ex-Coyote (L.Johnson 9/10)
Heal The Bay – the local organizer for this international cleanup effort – reports:
* 14,131 volunteers (a new record) at 65 sites in Los Angeles County
* 101 miles of coastline, river bank, etc. covered
* 137,422 pounds of debris
* Since 1990, 1.57 million pounds have been picked up
* Cigarette butts, plastic bottle caps and Styrofoam pieces are the most frequently found
* In California, 80,312 volunteers covered 1,702 miles and collected 1.100.122 pounds of trash
* The next Coastal Cleanup Day will be September 17, 2011. Join us!
More pictures of the cleanup can be found here.
Afterwards, the lagoon looked pristine. The birds, especially this group of Wilson’s Phalaropes, were grateful. [Chuck Almdale]
"Hey! Look! You can see the bottom!" (J.Kenney 8/10)
California Bird Festivals 2010-2011
Bird festivals are fun. You meet other birders, visit new places, see their regular birds plus whatever rarities have dropped in, hear interesting presentations and discussions, admire – possibly buy – beautiful bird paintings and carvings, eat lunch and dinner with others, support their local economy and much more, not far from home. Festivals marked TBA have not yet scheduled their dates. Make reservations in advance.
September 2010
23-26 Thur – Sun 6th Annual Monterey Bay Birding Festival http://montereybaybirding.org/
25 Saturday 16th Annual Kern Valley Turkey Vulture Festival http://kern.audubon.org/tvfest.htm
October 2010
30 Saturday Orange County Sea & Sage Book Sale & Pancake Breakfast http://www.seaandsageaudubon.org/SpecialEvents/SpecialEvents.html
November 2010
5-7 Fri – Sun 14th Annual Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival http://www.cranefestival.com/
18-21 Thur – Sun 14th Annual Central Valley Birding Symposium http://www.cvbirds.org/Symposium.htm
January 2011
14-17 Fri – Mon 15th Annual Morro Bay Bird Festival http://morrobaybirdfestival.org/index.htm
27-30 Thur – Sun 12th Annual Chico Snow Goose Festival http://www.snowgoosefestival.org/
February 2011
11-13 Fri – Sun 15th Annual San Francisco Bay Flyway Festival http://www.sfbayflywayfestival.com/
18-20 Fri – Sun 32nd Annual Klamath Falls Winter Wings Festival http://www.winterwingsfest.org/
Canceled 14th Annual Salton Sea Birding Festival http://www.newriverwetlands.com/
25-26 Fri – Sat Davis California Duck Days http://www.yolobasin.org/documents/Duck%20Days%202011.pdf
March 2011
3-6 Thur – Sun 15th Annual San Diego Bay Bird Festival http://www.sandiegoaudubon.org/birdfest.htm
April 2011
13-16 Wed – Sat Yuma Birding & Nature Festival http://www.visityuma.com/birding_and_nature_festival.html
14-20 Thur – Wed 16th Annual Arcata Godwit Days Bird Festival http://www.godwitdays.com/
30-May 1 Sat – Sun Clear Lake Heron Festival http://www.heronfestival.org/
23 Saturday 17th Annual Kern River Valley Spring Nature Festival http://kern.audubon.org/KRVSNF.htm
29-May 2 Fri – Mon Point Reyes Birding & Nature Festival http://www.pointreyesbirdingfestival.org/site/
May 2011
6-8 Fri – Sun California Redwoods Bird & Nature Festival http://www.calredwoodsbirdfest.org/
16 Monday Tule Lake Migratory Bird Festival http://www.visitsiskiyou.org/blog/tag/tule-lake-migratory-bird-festival/
June 2011
4 Saturday 2nd Annual Tahoe International Migratory Bird Festival http://www.tinsweb.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=102&Itemid=178
17-19 Fri – Sun 10th Annual Mono Lake Bird Chautaqua http://www.birdchautauqua.org/
August 2011
13 Saturday 13th Annual Kern River Valley Hummingbird Celebration http://kern.audubon.org/hummer_fest.htm
[Chuck Almdale]
SANTA MONICA BAY AUDUBON SOCIETY BLOG 