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Bird Articles from “Science News”
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/46827/title/Oops%2C_missed_that_fossil_iridescence
Nanostructures on a preserved feather offer the first fossil evidence of bird colors not from pigments, a new study says.
From Science News Web Edition 8/29/09
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/47037/title/Vultures_get_their_day
Hurray for vultures, the avian garbage collectors.
From Science News Web Edition 9/06/09
From the President
Changes…
Welcome to the Santa Monica Bay Audubon’s new year. We have a new president. Lu Plauzoles finished his three year term with grace and many thanks and has promised to continue to be the “go to” guy for the Snowy Plovers programs and conservation in general.
SMBAS is officially blogging ! We are excited about the change – we will be timely, we will have pictures and we will be proactive, not reactive. We will be mailing out bi-monthly calendars to those who request them and/or are not connected to the internet. We want to be in touch with all members. In many things there will be no changes: we will be having monthly general meetings with interesting and informative speakers (the first Tuesday of the month – check the blog or website first to reconfirm,), we will have monthly bird walks at Malibu Lagoon (4th Sunday of the month – always), we will give our birding class and we will have field trips around Southern California. We try to be responsive to our members and the environment; do let us know what interests you. Details of all programs and field trips will be on the blog and the web site.
We are interested in birds, habitat, native plants, environment, conservation, and closely related topics. We explore our area with field trips, we clean up our area on Coastal Cleanup Day and pick up the odd trash on every bird walk, we learn new things at meetings, we respond to pleas to help the environment, we replace our non-native plants with natives, we strive to lower our carbon footprint and we recycle –in other words, we would like to leave this earth better because we cared.
Your new president has lived on the west side for xx years … make that a long time. Her father was the family birder; he took up birding at age 60 and in the next 25 years saw over 5,600 bird species. He met Abigail King on a birding trip to Alaska; she remembered him fondly as the one with the sense of humor. We want to encourage birders of all ages. There is joy to be found in learning about and observing birds. My family tradition is just starting, and I did inherit my father’s binoculars. We hope that Santa Monica Bay Audubon will offer encouragement, education and pleasure to all its members.
— Ellen Vahan
Malibu Lagoon Bird Census January-June 2009
This field trip sighting chart for the first six months of 2009 was put it on the blog in Aug. 2010 in order to complete the record for 2009. It was not distributed by email. [Chuck Almdale]
Link to July-December 2009 field trip census.
| MALIBU 2009 Census | Jan 26 |
Feb 22 |
Mar 22 |
Apr 26 |
May 24 |
Jun 28 |
| Temperature | 60-70 | 50-60 | 60-70 | 66-74 | ||
| Tide Height | +5.9 | +5.5 | +4.8 | +3.7 | +3.7 | +0.4 |
| Low/High & Time | H:0814 | H+5.5 | H+4.8 | H+3.7 | H+3.7 | L+0.4 |
| (Black) Brant | 1 | 4 | 1 | |||
| Gadwall | 15 | 18 | 18 | 6 | 12 | 15 |
| American Wigeon | 10 | 16 | 4 | 4 | ||
| Mallard | 18 | 20 | 16 | 16 | 20 | 25 |
| Cinnamon Teal | 5 | 4 | ||||
| Northern Shoveler | 16 | 28 | 2 | |||
| Northern Pintail | 1 | |||||
| Green-winged Teal | 14 | 23 | 4 | |||
| Lesser Scaup | 1 | |||||
| Surf Scoter | 12 | 6 | 10 | |||
| Bufflehead | 11 | 8 | ||||
| Red-brstd Merganser | 4 | 5 | 3 | |||
| Ruddy Duck | 20 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 2 | |
| Red-throated Loon | 2 | |||||
| Pacific Loon | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||
| Common Loon | 1 | |||||
| Pied-billed Grebe | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | |
| Horned Grebe | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Western Grebe | 23 | 9 | 12 | |||
| Brown Pelican | 256 | 107 | 170 | 78 | 70 | 71 |
| Brandt’s Cormorant | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Dble-crstd Cormorant | 30 | 25 | 36 | 14 | 28 | 22 |
| Pelagic Cormorant | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Great Blue Heron | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |
| Great Egret | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | ||
| Snowy Egret | 8 | 10 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| Green Heron | 1 | |||||
| Blk-crwnd N-Heron | 1 | 3 | ||||
| Turkey Vulture | 1 | |||||
| Osprey | 1 | |||||
| Cooper’s Hawk | 1 | |||||
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| American Kestral | 1 | |||||
| Sora | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||
| American Coot | 180 | 152 | 85 | 38 | 32 | 22 |
| Blk-bellied Plover | 38 | 42 | 24 | 30 | ||
| Snowy Plover | 42 | 49 | 36 | |||
| Semipalmated Plover | 15 | |||||
| Killdeer | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
| Black Oystercatcher | 2 | |||||
| American Avocet | 4 | 2 | 7 | |||
| Greater Yellowlegs | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Willet | 10 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 3 | |
| Spotted Sandpiper | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | ||
| Whimbrel | 2 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 5 | |
| Marbled Godwit | 12 | 24 | 10 | |||
| Ruddy Turnstone | 9 | 9 | 12 | 25 | ||
| Sanderling | 60 | 130 | 6 | |||
| Western Sandpiper | 15 | 10 | 1 | |||
| Least Sandpiper | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Dunlin | 1 | |||||
| Boneparte’s Gull | 1 | |||||
| Heermann’s Gull | 46 | 19 | 4 | 1 | 20 | 48 |
| Ring-billed Gull | 180 | 20 | 25 | 4 | 1 | |
| California Gull | 450 | 1360 | 180 | 6 | 1 | |
| Herring Gull | 1 | |||||
| Western Gull | 125 | 125 | 70 | 85 | 65 | 72 |
| Glaucous-wingd Gull | 6 | 12 | 11 | 3 | ||
| Caspian Tern | 1 | 41 | 15 | 3 | ||
| Royal Tern | 4 | 8 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Elegant Tern | 22 | 700 | 40 | 15 | ||
| Forster’s Tern | 2 | |||||
| Black Skimmer | 30 | |||||
| Rock Pigeon | 8 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 |
| Mourning Dove | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | |
| Blk-hooded Parakeet | 6 | |||||
| Anna’s Hummingbird | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Allen’s Hummingbird | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 4 |
| Belted Kingfisher | 1 | |||||
| Downy Woodpecker | 1 | |||||
| Pac.Slope Flycatcher | 1 | |||||
| Black Phoebe | 8 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 12 | 15 |
| Say’s Phoebe | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Western Kingbird | 2 | |||||
| American Crow | 10 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 12 |
| Common Raven | 2 | |||||
| Tree Swallow | 180 | |||||
| Rough-wingd Swallow | 20 | 30 | 3 | 10 | 6 | |
| Cliff Swallow | 4 | 12 | 7 | |||
| Barn Swallow | 1 | 4 | 1 | 8 | ||
| Bushtit | 5 | 16 | 4 | 2 | ||
| Marsh Wren | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 1 | |||||
| Wrentit | 1 | |||||
| Northern Mockingbird | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
| European Starling | 60 | 12 | 20 | 6 | 2 | 20 |
| Ornge-crwnd Warbler | 2 | |||||
| Yellow-rumpd Warbler | 10 | 10 | 2 | |||
| Common Yellowthroat | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
| Spotted Towhee | 1 | 1 | ||||
| California Towhee | 4 | 2 | 5 | |||
| Song Sparrow | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 6 |
| White-crwnd Sparrow | 5 | 3 | ||||
| Red-winged Blackbird | 2 | 1 | ||||
| Great-tailed Grackle | 2 | 1 | ||||
| Brwn-headed Cowbird | 2 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Hooded Oriole | 1 | 4 | ||||
| Bullock’s Oriole | 2 | |||||
| House Finch | 8 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 6 |
| Lesser Goldfinch | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Totals by Type | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun |
| Waterfowl | 120 | 141 | 74 | 37 | 38 | 41 |
| Water Birds – Other | 496 | 305 | 307 | 138 | 132 | 117 |
| Herons, Egrets & Ibis | 15 | 14 | 11 | 8 | 13 | 28 |
| Quail & Raptors | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Shorebirds | 181 | 274 | 113 | 109 | 5 | 9 |
| Gulls & Terns | 841 | 1545 | 313 | 844 | 144 | 139 |
| Doves | 10 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 10 |
| Other Non-Passerines | 12 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 6 |
| Passerines | 125 | 269 | 91 | 53 | 79 | 93 |
| Total Birds | 1801 | 2564 | 921 | 1202 | 432 | 446 |
| Total Species | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun |
| Waterfowl | 9 | 10 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
| Water Birds – Other | 10 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 4 |
| Herons, Egrets & Ibis | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Quail & Raptors | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Shorebirds | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 2 | 3 |
| Gulls & Terns | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 5 |
| Doves | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Other Non-Passerines | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Passerines | 16 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 16 |
| Totals Species – 101 | 63 | 63 | 60 | 56 | 43 | 42 |
Paramount Ranch to Malibu Creek Trek: 29 March 2009
Boots are recommended, but not mandatory, for this four-mile, one-way saunter through the fields and hills of the Santa Monica Mountains. Because parking at Paramount Ranch is (currently) free, we start there with a short tour of their reconstructed Old West movie set, then set off across the Reagan Ranch, ending up about 3.5 to 4 hours later at the parking lot in Malibu Creek State Park, from where we car-pool back to Paramount and have lunch. Along the way we see beautiful skies, trees in leaf, flowers in bloom, water in the creeks and birds singing everywhere. If you’d like to see some of the local “back country” of several of our state parks, I can’t think of a better way to do it. Along the way we pause a lot in order to examine the flowers and birds we come across. Led by wildflower aficionado Peggy Burhenn (neé Mueller) and birder Chuck Almdale, you don’t miss much. (Asterisked* flowers below are introduced non-natives.)
TRIP LIST – PARAMOUNT TO MALIBU 3/29/09 |
||
| PLANTS | BIRDS | |
| 1 | Ashy-leafed Buckwheat | Gadwall |
| 2 | Big Pod Ceanothus | American Wigeon |
| 3 | Blue Dicks | Mallard |
| 4 | Blue Larkspur | Bufflehead |
| 5 | Bush Lupine | Ruddy Duck |
| 6 | California Bay Laurel | Pied-billed Grebe |
| 7 | California Poppy | Turkey Vulture |
| 8 | Caterpillar Phacelia (2 types) | Cooper’s Hawk |
| 9 | Chamise (not in bloom) | Red-shouldered Hawk |
| 10 | Chia | Red-tailed Hawk |
| 11 | Chinese Caps | American Kestrel |
| 12 | Coast Live Oak | American Coot |
| 13 | Common Fiddleneck | White-throated Swift |
| 14 | Coyote Brush (not in bloom) | Anna’s Hummingbird |
| 15 | Curly Dock* | Allen’s Hummingbird |
| 16 | Dove Lupine | Belted Kingfisher |
| 17 | Elderberry | Acorn Woodpecker |
| 18 | Fiesta Flower | Nuttall’s Woodpecker |
| 19 | Golden Currant | Downy Woodpecker |
| 20 | Green bark Ceanothus | Northern Flicker |
| 21 | Hog Fennel | Pacific-slope Flycatcher |
| 22 | Horehound* | Black Phoebe |
| 23 | Hummingbird Sage (not in bloom) | Cassin’s Kingbird |
| 24 | Indian Paintbrush | Western Kingbird |
| 25 | Johnny-Jump Up | Warbling Vireo |
| 26 | Lace Pod | Western Scrub-Jay |
| 27 | Laurel Sumac | American Crow |
| 28 | Milk Thistle (not in bloom) | Common Raven |
| 29 | Miner’s Lettuce | No. Rough-winged Swallow |
| 30 | Mistletoe | Cliff Swallow |
| 31 | Mugwort | Barn Swallow |
| 32 | Mule Fat | Oak Titmouse |
| 33 | Mustard* | Bushtit |
| 34 | Parry’s Phacelia | White-breasted Nuthatch |
| 35 | Pineapple Weed* | Bewick’s Wren |
| 36 | Poison Oak | House Wren |
| 37 | Popcorn Flower | Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
| 38 | Prickly Phlox | Western Bluebird |
| 39 | Purple Nightshade | Hermit Thrush |
| 40 | Purple Sage | Wrentit |
| 41 | Red-stem Filaree* | Northern Mockingbird |
| 42 | Scrub Oak (with gall) | European Starling |
| 43 | Soap Plant | Orange-crowned Warbler |
| 44 | Spring Vetch* | Yellow-rumped Warbler |
| 45 | Sticky Monkey Flower (not in bloom) | Black-throated Gray Warbler |
| 46 | Sugar Bush | Townsend’s Warbler |
| 47 | Toyon | Common Yellowthroat |
| 48 | Valley Oak | Spotted Towhee |
| 49 | Western Sycamore | California Towhee |
| 50 | White Sage | Song Sparrow |
| 51 | Wild Cucumber | Lincoln’s Sparrow |
| 52 | Wild Radish* | White-crowned Sparrow |
| 53 | Wild Rose (not in bloom) | Dark-eyed Junco |
| 54 | Wild Sweet Pea | Red-winged Blackbird |
| 55 | Willow | Western Meadowlark |
| 56 | Yucca | House Finch |
| 57 | Lesser Goldfinch | |
| 58 | House Sparrow | |
| OTHER POSSIBLE WILDFLOWERS | ||
| WHITE | YELLOW (continued) | |
| California Everlasting | Western Wallflower | |
| Catalina Mariposa Lily | Yellow Sweet Clover | |
| Cliff Aster | ORANGE | |
| Datura | Scarlet Pimpernel | |
| Dodder | RED | |
| Indian Milkweed | Crimson Pitcher Sage | |
| Matilija Poppy | Fushchia-flowered Gooseberry | |
| Morning Glory | Heart-leaved Penstemon | |
| Narrow-leaved Milkweek | Indian Pink | |
| Two-toned Everlasting | PINK | |
| White Chapparal Currant | Bush Mallow | |
| White Nightshade | Chaparral Pea | |
| Windmill Pink | Elegant Clarkia | |
| YELLOW | Hedge Nettle | |
| Burr Clover | Purple Clarkia | |
| Bush Poppy Bush Sunflower | Purple Owl’s Clover | |
| Canyon Sunflower | Slender Phlox | |
| Coast Wallflower | Sour Clover | |
| Coastal Lotus | Speckled Clarkia | |
| Collarless California Poppy | White-stem Filaree | |
| Common Sunflower | PURPLE / BLUE | |
| Deerweed | Black Sage | |
| Golden Yarrow | Branching Phacelia | |
| Moth Mullein | California Peony | |
| Mountain Dandelion | Chocolate Lily | |
| Slender Sunflower | Common Vervain | |
| Slender Tarweed | Fern-leaf Phacelia | |
| Sow Thistle | Sticky Phacelia | |
| Strigose Lotus | Succulant Lupine (Arroyo, Foothill) | |
| Telegraph Weed | Wooly Blue Curls | |
SANTA MONICA BAY AUDUBON SOCIETY BLOG 