Our rains continue and Governor Brown just declared that the California drought is officially over.  No doubt everyone will celebrate by watering their lawns while the rain falls and leaving the hose run while they wash their car.  (As if they ever stopped.)

At 54° when we started, and a very light wind, the weather at the lagoon was quite pleasant, despite the numerous dark and threatening clouds all around. Surf was nearly flat, and only a couple ever-hopeful diehards were in the water.

Species diversity took an upward bump.  A single Brandt’s Cormorant joined the lonely Pelagic Cormorant on the offshore rocks.  Reports of Pacific Loons off our coast were supported by the raft of 15 swimming just beyond the surf zone.  The terns are returning (no pun intended) in small numbers:  Caspian, Forster’s, Royal and Elegant joined the 3 Black Skimmers (probably the same 2 adults and 1 juvenile as last month). Again, most of the gulls flew off just as we arrived at the beach; I estimated 1000 of them and added them to the counts.

Caspian Terns (C.Bragg 5/10)

Ducks were down: no Canada Geese, Wigeons, Shovelers or Buffleheads at all, and only 15 Ruddy Ducks.  Two of the Ruddys were in bright breeding (alternate) plumage.  Double-crested Cormorants – more and more of them sporting their white “eyebrow” crests – were abundant: 90 scattered about, a count second only to 97 on 11/27/05.  The Virginia Rail was still in his usual spot in the reed bed near the footbridge to the point near the highway.  That’s the 5^th month running for what must be the same individual bird.  The Soras are still relatively numerous, with at least 4 seen, including one juvenile.

The Osprey was back.  Perhaps he never left, but we didn’t see it in February, after hosting it October through January.  He doesn’t seem to bother the other birds much as they never seem to leap into the air when he cruises by or kites over the lagoon.  As the beach breach has been open all winter, there’s probably plenty of mullet hanging around in the deeper waters below the highway bridge.

Other signs of spring appeared in addition to the budding trees.  Two Western Kingbirds busily hawked insects over the marsh grass and pickleweed, and…TA DA! – a Rufous Hummingbird was discovered among the usual Anna’s and Allen’s Hummers.  This is the 1^st Rufous we’ve found at the lagoon.  They are a common migrant through California this time of year, heading (as I’m sure you know) as far north as Alaska to breed.  But it’s hard to separate them from the far more common, and now resident, Allen’s.  The green on this bird’s back was so reduced that we felt (fairly) confident in calling it a Rufous.

Five Savannah Sparrows were on the sandy edge of the middle channel, next to the pickleweed, which is still covered with bright red tips.  Back near the parking lot, 3 Brown-headed Cowbirds were high in the Sycamore tree, looking for mates, no doubt, and generally making pests of themselves.

As a reminder to those who plan to come to our 10 am Parent’s & Kids birdwalk, they meet at the beach trail footbridge closest to the parking lot.

Check out our new blog page created especially for Unusual Birds at Malibu Lagoon, the permanent location for pictures of our uncommon birds. Look for other new pages coming in the future. For prior period bird lists, follow these links to July-Dec ’10, Jan-June ’10, Jul-Dec ‘09, and Jan-June ‘09.  For an aerial photo of the lagoon, go here.   [Chuck Almdale]

Despite my January fears, a scorching summer is not yet upon us, nor is the rainy season over. It was a bright and sunny 45° at the lagoon when we arrived.

The terns are still off in parts unknown. Three Black Skimmers (oversized terns, if you will permit) showed up, but that’s it. There’s still a boodle (a scientific term of quantification) of gulls, mostly California Gulls. The Heermann’s Gulls were all gone (although a few were present the following day.) Heermann’s, in case you didn’t know, nest primarily on islands in the Sea of Cortez near the southern tip of Baja California. Late Spring and Summer is really hot there, so they leave their wintering grounds early to head south to nest, so as not to bake their brains. Yes, they migrate south to breed and north to spend the winter.

Tide was very low and lots of tidepool rocks were exposed, so the Black-bellied Plovers, Willets, Whimbrel, Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings, Least Sandpipers, and a few Snowy Egrets were having a profitable morning. Even a loudly squawking Black Oystercatcher flew in to join them. In 110 trips, we’ve seen only 18 of them, spread over 10 visits.

Black Oystercatcher in the tide pool (L.Plauzoles 2/11)

The Soras are still here. Two by the 1^st footbridge were joined by a very cooperative Virginia Rail (4^th month in a row for this bird), with another Sora over by the footbridge to the point (near the highway bridge).

The “Flap of the Day”
A Lesser Black-backed Gull (LBBG hereafter) was reported to us by several birders who preceded us to the beach. What our group studied intently for 30-60 minutes was a dark-mantled gull with a white unstreaked head, orangish tinge to the bill, bright single red spot on lower mandible, bright yellow legs, appearing to be the same size as the Western Gulls around it. Later discussion with two of the early bird finders revealed that this description fits their bird except they thought it significantly smaller than a Western. I don’t recall if they said there were other Western Gulls in its vicinity when they saw it, and as we all (should) know, determination of relative size can be tricky in absence of something nearby to compare it to. I’ve made this mistake so many times that I’ve learned my sense of size is unreliable when judging a solitary bird. Kimball Garrett commented on the LACoBirds chat line (to which you ought to subscribe) that there are only a couple of prior records for LBBG in LA County, so documentation (pictures!) is needed. If anyone out there got a picture of this bird(s) send it in! He also pointed out that Cal Yorke took a picture at the lagoon on 2/13/11 of a Western Gull with yellowish legs. I personally think this was the bird our group saw despite the fact that our bird’s legs were far more brightly yellow than the pictured bird. Lillian and I also found, upon searching in vain for the bird on the following day, that among the approximately 1100 California Gulls, there were 3-6 California Gulls which had very bright yellow legs and an orange tinge to the bill. Two possible explanation for these colors are: beginning to enter into breeding plumage (which often includes skin color changes, especially in seabirds); higher than usual levels of carotinoids (as in “carrot” -chemicals providing reddish colors ) in their diet, probably from crustaceans such as brine shrimp.  In several other species of seabird – Roseate and Elegant Terns – carotinoids get concentrated in their oil gland; when they rub the oil on their plumage with their bills, the plumage can turn pinkish or rosy, usually most noticeable on their breast. I can’t think of a reason why this might not affect the bill’s color as well. Check the Elegant Terns at the lagoon in April – May, and you’ll likely see rosy breasts on at least a few birds. All this is to say that a reddish tinge on a gull’s bill may an indication of diet or readiness to breed, and not proof of a rare species. We have often noticed that the bills of Royal and Elegant Terns can range anywhere from light yellow to deep orange, and thus is unreliable as a tool to differentiate between these two species. Perhaps this color range is due to the same breeding and/or diet causes. These are conjectures, or “educated guesses”. I don’t know the answers.

Our Snowy Plover population remains high at 59, although the census takers had hard times due to all the inattentive people tromping up and down the beach – including, alas, myself, deep in some no-doubt immensely important bird-related conversation, until an alarmed Snowy darted off, bringing us up short and back to the world. We had two banded birds: long time Malibu resident NO:WW (first spotted Oct. ’09) and AY:AA (around since at least Nov. ’10).

All in all it was a nice day at the beach, filled with sound and fury, signifying…a nice day at the beach!  Monday was equally beautiful, with even more birds and nearly no one on the great wide Malibu sands.

As a note to anyone reading this, our 10 AM Children and Parents Birdwalk meets on the beach trail footbridge closest to the parking lot.

Check out our new blog page created especially for Unusual Birds at Malibu Lagoon, the permanent location for pictures of our uncommon birds. Look for other new pages coming in the future. For prior period bird lists, follow these links to July-Dec ’10, Jan-June ’10, Jul-Dec ‘09, and Jan-June ‘09.  For an aerial photo of the lagoon, go here.   [Chuck Almdale]