It’s definitely August: it’s still a bit cooler than usual, but the blanket-covered beach and squadrons of surfers were unmistakable signs. Lucky for them, big ones were rolling in from a storm to the south and a windless day meant the waves weren’t blown out into foam. Tide was high; waves broke over the offshore rocks and there

Yellow-crowned x Black-crowned Night-Heron Hybrid(?) on its favorite log (L.Johnson 8/6/10

was nothing on the shore or water, so we concentrated on the lagoon. There are now two sand islands, one large and one quite small, and the birds love them. Only a foolish human ventures into the bacteria-laden lagoon water, so with no clumsy people lurching around to step on them, the birds are free to relax. So relaxed, apparently, that they may be trying to breed there, unheard of in recent decades: Kimball Garrett reported on Sunday 8/15 that he spotted a skimmer egg on the island, although no one was attending it.

Earlier this month there was a ‘flap’ when a sub-adult Yellow-crowned Night Heron (YCNH)  was reported at the lagoon. Birders went to look, pictures were taken, characteristics noted and opinions swapped. Eventually local avian maven Kimball Garrett checked it out and reported that it looked like a YCNH-BCNH hybrid. We looked for it on our walk, but all the birds were hiding deep in the reeds and the only juvenile night-herons we could see well all looked like Black-crowned.

A few of the Black Skimmers (L.Johnson 8/10)

Beyond that, the shorebird and tern populations continued to grow. An all-time high of 103 Black Skimmers were roosting and skimming: this is almost triple last month’s previous high of 35 and more than the total skimmers we’ve had in the past 10 years (96 birds spread over 11 appearances). The Black-bellied Plovers showed up but the Least Terns left.

Ruddy Turnstone still in breeding plumage (L.Johnson 8/10)

Other migrants appearing were: 6 Northern Pintail, 1 Green Heron, 1 Sora, 1 Spotted Sandpiper, 1 Belted Kingfisher, 1 Cassin’s and 4 Western Kingbirds, 1 Tree Swallow and l Western Tanager. The Downy Woodpecker sighted near the parking lot may be the same individual seen in June, but missed in July. They’re uncommon south of the highway (4 sightings over 10 years), so it’s easier to believe it’s the same bird than two different birds.

On the 10 am parents & children birdwalk, Jean and Chris each talked with a  different family and were very impressed with the enthusiasm & abilities of all the kids. We hope they all come back!

The July-August chart below will continue to grow monthly through December, but six months of data is all I can squeeze into this blog format. Here are links to field trip bird lists for Jan – June 2010 and  July – Dec 2009. [Chuck Almdale]

Busy birders on the bridge (C.Almdale 7/10)

Coastal overcast made for a cool day and most birders never got their extra layer off. Some early returning birds from northern breeding were back and in their brightest plumage: Willets, Whimbrels (48!), Western and Least Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers and – of course – our local group of wintering Snowy Plovers, 26 strong. Other, more local, breeders were busy reducing the invertebrate population: various herons and egrets including 4 Black-crowned Night Herons; Least, Caspian, Royal and Elegant Terns, and an extraordinary count of  35 Black Skimmers. The air was busy with Swallows: Rough-winged, Cliff and Barn – all local breeders. European Starlings – aggressive, sharp-billed and a bane to all native hole-nesting birds – had a bumper crop and ornamented several trees in a Christmas fashion.

Snowy Plover on Malibu Beach (C.Almdale 10/09)

While we were counting and re-counting Snowy Plovers, a beach maintenance crew drove up to empty the trash bins. We warned them that they were about to drive into the mixed flock of (endangered) Least Terns and (threatened) Snowy Plovers. They were very pleased to know this as they had been warned to watch out for them, and – as all birders know – these diminutive species are nearly invisible when roosting motionless on the sand. We ourselves were very happy to learn that the word about these two species continues to spread through the various governmental authorities.

The Adamson House produced a small number of hummers – Anna’s and Allen’s – at the flowering wall, and a foursome of Hooded Orioles investigated the flowering trees, but few other species were present. As we were leaving we spotted a Red-tailed Hawk soaring far away above the Serra Retreat.

Judging by the number of tents with product names on them, some sort of surfing competition was taking place, but the waves weren’t particularly good. A cool day and a light breeze made for very pleasant birding, if not surfing, conditions.

The chart below includes counts for July 2010 and 2009. Sometimes it’s interesting to compare data for equivalent dates in different years. For example, 37 out of 54 species were present in both years and total birds present in 2010 were triple the 2009 population.  [Chuck Almdale]

Link to field trip bird lists for Jan – June 2010 or  July – Dec 2009