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Chills & Thrills at Malibu Lagoon, 22 Dec. 2024
[Text by Chuck Almdale; photos by Femi Faminu & Chris Lord. Trip list at the end.]
The Sea Rocket was in bluish bloom, brightening the beach, and the lagoon was loaded with black American Coots. I counted over 700, but I’m sure that there were several hundred more in the channel, lurking on the other side of the sandy islands.
Because it was a mid-level tide with minimal fluctuation (a low of 2.47 ft. at 9:39am, rising all the way to +3.31 ft. at 2:20pm, or ten whole inches) with only 3-6 mph of breeze, I thought waves suitable for surfing would be nil. But both sides of Pacific Coast Hwy. were filled with parked cars, signifying the opposite. No doubt the surge from some distant storm was responsible. And waves were big and covered with surfers. The offshore rocks were well-exposed between waves, possibly tempting passing shorebirds to land and rest, then pancaked by the next wave. Birds on the water were few, a single Western Grebe the exception, accompanied by crab trap floats.
The waves continued to grow over this week, reaching 14-17 feet locally. In Santa Cruz a bit south of San Francisco the city wharf was ripped apart by surf, leaving pieces to wash up around Monterey Bay, killing at least one man ( video KSBW & WHAS). Waves of up to 40 ft are predicted, although Fox News claimed 60 footers were coming.
Our group today had a higher proportion of newbies than usual, and they kept me busy pointing out birds, explaining things and answering questions, and I neglected the actual counting of birds. Fortunately chapter members Femi Faminu and Chris Lord were there to fill in the numerous gaps, and most of the data in the trip list below came from them.
The day started chilly at 56°F and climbed only to 62° by 11am. The Snowy Egret above appears to be keeping warm by being extra fluffy. The Whimbrel and Marbled Godwit below are making their differences in plumage and bill apparent.
Ruddy Turnstones are extremely bright and beautiful when in breeding plumage but lose most of that for the winter, sometimes so much so that one wonders if they are Ruddy or Black. This confusion several years ago led us to the fact that Ruddy Turnstones breeding on the north slope of Alaska are so dark that they are easily confused with Black Turnstones (see below).
These dark plumages are much darker than those below, and the pale areas within their black “semicircles” on the breast are almost as dark as the semicircles themselves. Turnstones (unlike oystercatchers) actually live up to their names, and the slight beveling of their lower bill lends strength for their stone-flipping behavior (delicious snacks found below).
Spotted Sandpipers appear in low numbers in the lagoon and channels where they poke around along the water’s edge. The breeding plumage breast spots are lost by late summer and we rarely see them. The first one I ever saw was at a lake at 8,700 ft. altitude in the Sierras and had no spots at all. Fortunately it was bobbing its tail and this behavior uncommon among shorebirds gave it away.
As noted above, the Sea Rocket was blooming all around the lagoon. This bee closely inspected the blossoms and was duly rewarded, as you can tell by the bulging food sacs on its hind legs.
Black Phoebes like flying insects of all sorts, and they also like being near water, but they care little for bees. For that you need Bee-eaters, which actually do eat bees as well as other worthwhile insects, and the closest ones are in Africa.
Is the Black-crowned Night Heron below aware that a Great Egret is trailing him? Thievery is not confined to humans.
A study in Sanderlings
They look like they’re sleeping and some probably are, but others are keeping their eye on you.
Sanderlings are to many the archetypal sandpiper. They are the ones most often seen running back and forth with the waves, avoiding the foaming water while following it back to the sea as they snag the unwary invertebrate.
Sanderlings and Snowy Plovers often roost together in adjacent sand-dimples but feed differently: Sanderlings most often at the water’s edge, Snowy Plovers most often in the wrack at the high tide line; thus no competition between the two species, except for roosting dimples. While sleeping they can look much the same, confusing the census count for the unwary peep/plover counter.
Members of the Icteridae, a new-world family of passerines (8 genera, 23 species) often have sharp pointy bills and can look fierce. Great-tailed Grackles have been in SoCal for 60 years since moving northward from western Mexico, first sighted along the Colorado River in 1964, with their first nesting record five years later. They spread across the SoCal desert from waterhole to waterhole, then began invading golf-courses and cities, much to the detriment (I believe) of the Yellow-headed Blackbird which nested in the same reedy habitat. My first record of them at Malibu Lagoon was four birds on 26 Aug 2001. Since then they have appeared at the lagoon 194 out of 268 census dates, or 72% of the time. Even when you don’t see them there, they’re nearby at the shopping center snagging crumbs from diners or at Legacy Park nearby. They were almost the first bird we saw today, with 22 occupying a sycamore tree bordering PCH. Their record is 25 birds on 26 Aug 2006.
The last new birds for the day were two Black Oystercatchers flying by over the sea as we left the beach. I thought they might perch upon the exposed offshore rocks but they passed them by and continued west, never veering an inch. I suspect they knew what would happen should they land there.
The Oystercatcher family Haematopodidae (blood-foot) with 12 species in one genus has an interesting distribution:
- Seven Species:
- North America: Black & American
- No. South America: American
- So. South America: Magellanic & Blackish
- Canary Islands: Canary Island (extinct)
- South Africa: African
- Eurasia & North Africa: Eurasian
- Five Species:
- Australia: Pied & Sooty
- New Zealand: South Island, Variable, Chatham Islands
They certainly concentrate in the Australia and New Zealand region.
Malibu Lagoon on eBird as of 12-23-24: 8342 lists, 2661 eBirders, 320 species.
Most recent species added: Nelson’s Sparrow, 11/29/24 by Femi Faminu (SMBAS member).
Birds new for the season: Surf Scoter, Spotted Sandpiper, Nanday Parakeet, Barn Swallow, Western Meadowlark. “New for the season” means it has been three or more months since last recorded on our trips.
Many, many thanks to photographers: Femi Faminu & Chris Lord.
Upcoming SMBAS scheduled field trips; no reservations or Covid card necessary unless specifically mentioned:
- Antelope Valley Raptor Search Sat. Jan 11, 2025 meet at 7:00 am. Reservation necessary. May be canceled.
- Malibu Lagoon, Sun. Jan 26, 8:30 (adults) & 10 am (parents & kids)
- Madrona Marsh Sat Feb 8, 8:30 am.
- Malibu Lagoon, Sun. Feb 23, 8:30 (adults) & 10 am (parents & kids)
- These and any other trips we announce for the foreseeable future will depend upon expected status of the Covid/flu/etc. pandemic at trip time. Any trip announced may be canceled shortly before trip date if it seems necessary. By now any other comments should be superfluous.
- Link to Programs & Field Trip schedule.
The next SMBAS Zoom program: TBA, Evening Meeting, Tuesday, February 4, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
The SMBAS 10 a.m. Parent’s & Kids Birdwalk is again running. Reservations not necessary for families, but for groups (scouts, etc.), call Jean (213-522-0062).
Links: Unusual birds at Malibu Lagoon
9/23/02 Aerial photo of Malibu Lagoon
More recent aerial photo
Prior checklists:
2023: Jan-June, July-Dec 2024: Jan-June
2021: Jan-July, July-Dec 2022: Jan-June, July-Dec
2020: Jan-July, July-Dec 2019: Jan-June, July-Dec
2018: Jan-June, July-Dec 2017: Jan-June, July-Dec
2016: Jan-June, July-Dec 2015: Jan-May, July-Dec
2014: Jan-July, July-Dec 2013: Jan-June, July-Dec
2012: Jan-June, July-Dec 2011: Jan-June, July-Dec
2010: Jan-June, July-Dec 2009: Jan-June, July-Dec
The 10-year comparison summaries created during the Lagoon Reconfiguration Project period, remain available—despite numerous complaints—on our Lagoon Project Bird Census Page. Very briefly summarized, the results unexpectedly indicate that avian species diversification and numbers improved slightly during the restoration period June’12-June’14.
Many thanks to Femi Faminu & Chris Lord who contributed the majority of the counts on this month’s checklist.
The species lists below is intermittently re-sequenced to agree with the California Bird Records Committee Official California Checklist. If part of the right side of the chart below is hidden, there’s a slider button inconveniently located at the bottom end of the list. The numbers 1-9 left of the species names are keyed to the nine categories of birds at the bottom.
[Chuck Almdale]
| Malibu Census 2023-24 | 7/28 | 8/25 | 9/22 | 10/27 | 11/24 | 12/22 | |
| Temperature | 63-72 | 64-78 | 67-75 | 64-68 | 54-59 | 56-62 | |
| Tide Lo/Hi Height | L+1.81 | L+2.00 | L+2.09 | H+4.75 | L+2.06 | L+2.47 | |
| Tide Time | 0916 | 0735 | 0611 | 0742 | 1139 | 0939 | |
| 1 | Canada Goose | 4 | |||||
| 1 | Gadwall | 27 | 12 | 30 | 38 | 26 | 32 |
| 1 | American Wigeon | 1 | 13 | 12 | 35 | ||
| 1 | Mallard | 6 | 2 | 8 | 28 | 10 | 20 |
| 1 | Green-winged Teal | 4 | 1 | 10 | |||
| 1 | Ring-necked Duck | 4 | 3 | ||||
| 1 | Surf Scoter | 2 | |||||
| 1 | Bufflehead | 9 | 10 | ||||
| 1 | Hooded Merganser | 1 | |||||
| 1 | Red-breasted Merganser | 10 | 13 | ||||
| 1 | Ruddy Duck | 28 | 22 | 35 | |||
| 2 | Pied-billed Grebe | 1 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 5 |
| 2 | Eared Grebe | 4 | 1 | ||||
| 2 | Western Grebe | 28 | 1 | ||||
| 7 | Feral Pigeon | 6 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 4 | |
| 7 | Mourning Dove | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 8 | Anna’s Hummingbird | 2 | 2 | 1 | |||
| 8 | Allen’s Hummingbird | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 2 | Sora | 2 | |||||
| 2 | American Coot | 2 | 72 | 340 | 560 | 705 | |
| 5 | Black Oystercatcher | 2 | 2 | ||||
| 5 | Black-bellied Plover | 51 | 70 | 67 | 136 | 75 | 50 |
| 5 | Killdeer | 12 | 4 | 12 | 20 | 1 | 30 |
| 5 | Semipalmated Plover | 13 | 3 | ||||
| 5 | Snowy Plover | 6 | 22 | 42 | 18 | 34 | 27 |
| 5 | Whimbrel | 52 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 15 | 4 |
| 5 | Long-billed Curlew | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 5 | Marbled Godwit | 12 | 25 | ||||
| 5 | Spotted Sandpiper | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 5 | Willet | 9 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 51 | 20 |
| 5 | Greater Yellowlegs | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 5 | Ruddy Turnstone | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4 | |
| 5 | Sanderling | 2 | 1 | 5 | 200 | 100 | |
| 5 | Least Sandpiper | 23 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 27 | |
| 5 | Western Sandpiper | 6 | 13 | 2 | |||
| 6 | Heermann’s Gull | 42 | 5 | 24 | 79 | 29 | 2 |
| 6 | Ring-billed Gull | 2 | 2 | 12 | 15 | 19 | |
| 6 | Western Gull | 220 | 113 | 55 | 27 | 65 | 35 |
| 6 | Herring Gull | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 6 | California Gull | 10 | 23 | 75 | 440 | 525 | 60 |
| 6 | Glaucous-winged Gull | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 6 | Caspian Tern | 14 | 4 | 1 | |||
| 6 | Forster’s Tern | 2 | |||||
| 6 | Elegant Tern | 240 | 10 | ||||
| 6 | Royal Tern | 5 | 5 | 6 | 2 | ||
| 2 | Common Loon | 2 | |||||
| 2 | Brandt’s Cormorant | 2 | 5 | ||||
| 2 | Pelagic Cormorant | 1 | 2 | 2 | |||
| 2 | Double-crested Cormorant | 28 | 37 | 54 | 51 | 44 | 23 |
| 2 | Brown Pelican | 163 | 27 | 24 | 30 | 260 | 35 |
| 3 | Black-crowned Night-Heron | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | Snowy Egret | 4 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 5 |
| 3 | Green Heron | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |
| 3 | Great Egret | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 3 | Great Blue Heron | 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| 3 | White-faced Ibis | 3 | |||||
| 4 | Turkey Vulture | 4 | 1 | 7 | 1 | ||
| 4 | Osprey | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 4 | Red-shouldered Hawk | 1 | |||||
| 4 | Red-tailed Hawk | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 8 | Belted Kingfisher | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 8 | Nuttall’s Woodpecker | 1 | |||||
| 8 | Hairy Woodpecker | 1 | |||||
| 4 | American Kestrel | 1 | |||||
| 8 | Nanday Parakeet | 25 | 4 | ||||
| 9 | Black Phoebe | 6 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| 9 | Say’s Phoebe | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 9 | Ash-throated Flycatcher | 1 | |||||
| 9 | Cassin’s Kingbird | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 9 | Western Kingbird | 8 | |||||
| 9 | Loggerhead Shrike | 1 | |||||
| 9 | California Scrub-Jay | 2 | |||||
| 9 | American Crow | 4 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 22 | 8 |
| 9 | Common Raven | 4 | 1 | ||||
| 9 | Oak Titmouse | 1 | |||||
| 9 | Tree Swallow | 1 | 12 | ||||
| 9 | No. Rough-winged Swallow | 2 | |||||
| 9 | Barn Swallow | 20 | 20 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 9 | Cliff Swallow | 4 | |||||
| 9 | Bushtit | 19 | 5 | 20 | 30 | 12 | 50 |
| 9 | Wrentit | 4 | 1 | 2 | |||
| 9 | Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||
| 9 | Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 1 | 4 | 1 | |||
| 9 | House Wren | 2 | 3 | 6 | 1 | ||
| 9 | Marsh Wren | 2 | 1 | ||||
| 9 | Bewick’s Wren | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||
| 9 | European Starling | 1 | 10 | 12 | 7 | ||
| 9 | Northern Mockingbird | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 9 | Western Bluebird | 5 | |||||
| 9 | Hermit Thrush | 1 | |||||
| 9 | House Finch | 12 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 6 |
| 9 | Lesser Goldfinch | 3 | 6 | 2 | |||
| 9 | Lark Sparrow | 1 | |||||
| 9 | Dark-eyed Junco | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 9 | White-crowned Sparrow | 16 | 15 | 20 | |||
| 9 | Savannah Sparrow | 1 | |||||
| 9 | Song Sparrow | 4 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 6 |
| 9 | California Towhee | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | ||
| 9 | Spotted Towhee | 1 | |||||
| 9 | Western Meadowlark | 15 | 1 | ||||
| 9 | Hooded Oriole | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 9 | Red-winged Blackbird | 11 | 1 | 2 | |||
| 9 | Brown-headed Cowbird | 18 | |||||
| 9 | Great-tailed Grackle | 3 | 1 | 4 | 15 | 22 | |
| 9 | Orange-crowned Warbler | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 9 | Common Yellowthroat | 1 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 6 | |
| 9 | Yellow Warbler | 1 | |||||
| 9 | Yellow-rumped Warbler (Aud) | 15 | 15 | 14 | |||
| 9 | Townsend’s Warbler | 2 | |||||
| Totals by Type | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| 1 | Waterfowl | 37 | 14 | 43 | 112 | 93 | 157 |
| 2 | Water Birds – Other | 192 | 68 | 155 | 469 | 882 | 769 |
| 3 | Herons, Egrets & Ibis | 12 | 12 | 14 | 20 | 14 | 12 |
| 4 | Quail & Raptors | 4 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 5 | Shorebirds | 139 | 157 | 142 | 197 | 404 | 290 |
| 6 | Gulls & Terns | 527 | 165 | 162 | 564 | 635 | 119 |
| 7 | Doves | 8 | 12 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| 8 | Other Non-Passerines | 2 | 7 | 31 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| 9 | Passerines | 70 | 92 | 119 | 136 | 142 | 150 |
| Totals Birds | 991 | 528 | 678 | 1511 | 2179 | 1507 | |
| Total Species | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| 1 | Waterfowl | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 8 |
| 2 | Water Birds – Other | 3 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 5 |
| 3 | Herons, Egrets & Ibis | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| 4 | Quail & Raptors | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 5 | Shorebirds | 8 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 11 |
| 6 | Gulls & Terns | 6 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| 7 | Doves | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 8 | Other Non-Passerines | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | Passerines | 9 | 22 | 27 | 24 | 24 | 17 |
| Totals Species – 109 | 38 | 62 | 68 | 65 | 66 | 56 |
Back Bay Newport & San Joaquin Marsh field trip: Dec 15, 2024
[By Chuck Almdale; photos by Chuck Bragg, Elyse Jankowski & Ray Juncosa]
Somehow we all made it to the southeast corner of Back Bay Newport (aka Upper Newport Bay) at the crack of 8 am. High tide at the Newport Bay entrance was 6.91 ft. at 8:10 am, and I doubt that I’ve ever seen the water so high. Most reed beds were completely submerged – vanished without a trace – and we were confronted with large expanses of water dotted with ducks trying to figure out what to do. If you’re a “dabbling” duck who feeds by tipping at the surface rather than diving, there’s not much you can do beyond waiting for the water to retreat.
The birder’s theory is that the various rails – Virginia’s, Ridgeway’s and the Sora, and of course the Black and the Yellow (as if!) – will be forced into view when their hiding places are submerged, and we’ll be able to easily see these reed-skulkers walking around on whatever reedtops remain. The rails have perhaps figured this out, though, and we managed to travel the length of the bay and not see one single bleeping rail, not even a Sora!, which at Malibu Lagoon come out and tromp around the mud flats for all to see (well…sometimes). We did see loads of Coots – honorary rails by ancestry – plus two young American Gallinule for a bit of a surprise.
Wondering what the rail situation was, I called the Sea & Sage office to see if they did rail censuses at the bay. [I think they used to, long ago.] The short answer is no. They do rent a boat and tool around the bay, once a month I think, but it’s not a census per se. The volunteer I spoke to said she’d seen no rails at all on her last two boat trips in November’24 and May’24. It occurs to me that perhaps the only spot they are reliable is close to the nature preserve office/museum on the north side, exactly where you can’t see anything from the path from because the wooden wall is too confangled high. Why did they build that wall so high?
We did see plenty of egrets and herons: Great Blue, Great, Snowy and Black-crowned Night Heron, plus a surprise coming up later.
We also saw plenty of shorebirds, aka members of the sandpiper order Charadriiformes of various sizes. Best represented were the larger ones: Long-billed Curlew, Marbled Godwit, Whimbrel, Willet, even a few Greater Yellowlegs.
And, of course, ducks.
There were not hordes of gulls and terns. Ring-billed Gulls were well represented. The only terns were scattered singletons and small groups of Forster’s.
Raptors were also few. We didn’t see any of the dark Red-tailed Hawks usually present, nor Harriers, nor the Bald Eagle, resident over the past two winters and reported earlier in December at the bay.
In addition to the Osprey were several White-tailed Kite. This one below, living up to its name and hovering like a pro, reminded me of that tale about Roman Emperor Constantine and his sign in the sky. “In hoc signo vinces” indeed. It’s thought-provoking to know that the Black-shouldered Kite Elanus caeruleus which ranges from Spain to New Guinea, looks and behaves so much like our White-tailed Kite Elanus leucurus that the two were lumped (along with the Australian Kite Elanus axillaris) into a single species in the late 20th century, then later re-split. Put any one of these birds kiting in the sky with the sunlight streaming behind it and who knows what people lacking binoculars might think they’re seeing. One takes their favorable omens where they can.
An one point all of the shorebirds in our vicinity stood up on high alert. It might have been because of a raptor, but we saw none around. Perhaps we were the cause?
Some flew off only to soon return and settle back down to important matters.
In the extreme distance we spotted a single Black Skimmer coming from farther up-bay. It graciously flew over almost to our feet to settle in among the Willets.
We stopped at a spot with a small pool under some low trees which in the past has often yielded passerines in the trees and rails in the grass. A Great Blue Heron which we mostly ignored was in the high grass out near the water’s edge. When someone paying closer attention that the rest commented that the heron “looked a little odd,” we all took a look, this time with our binoculars. Sure enough, not a GBH at all!
While Yellow-crowned Night Herons (who – along with the other six species of Night Heron – recently lost a hyphen) continue to very slowly spread through SoCal, I’d never seen one at Back Bay. This was a very nice adult, not one of those pesky streaky juveniles or even worse, a hybrid Black-crowned X Yellow-crowned.
We stopped at the top of the bay near the Jamboree Road bridge, found some more ducks, plus Western & Clark’s Grebes, but sorry to say, not a single small sandpiper. Amazingly we had traveled the length of the bay and the only shorebird smaller than a Killdeer was one Spotted Sandpiper. No Dunlin, Western’s or Least. No nothin’.
We then went to San Joachin Marsh, home of Sea & Sage Audubon, where we had lunch and again found no peeps. There were ducks, though, including quite a few Teal: Cinnamon, Blue-winged and Green-winged.
We also were visually treated to the little-appreciated fact that all three of these teal species – whatever claim their name may make – have iridescent green in their wings.
Note the baby blue color in the Cinnamon Teal’s wing above and below. This color is located in the upper secondary lesser coverts of the forewing.
However, the iridescent green is the speculum, located in the upper secondary hindwing (trailing edge). Here’s a diagram.
The same thing goes for the Blue-winged Teal below.
The Northern Shoveler also has this pattern of blue & green. Plus they all have varying amounts of white in the middle and greater coverts, just to keep you on your toes. Knowing something, even a little, about these secondary wing feather patterns can help when you’re trying to tell the females apart, especially female Mallard and Gadwall, and the three teals. Plus they’re lovely to look at.
There were quite a few Black-necked Stilts at the marsh, as well as White Pelicans.
One kestrel we saw was eating something too small to be identified, but which looked lizardish.
We had our lunch at the picnic spot near the Sea & Sage bookstore. At one point three small birds flew into a nearby Toyon bush and began checking out the red berries for ripeness. They turned out to be Swinhoe’s White-eye (formerly Japanese White-eye). When I asked at the bookstore if they should be added to their posted sightings list, they seemed a bit surprised at the sighting, so perhaps this introduced-and-spreading species isn’t all that common there. Yet.
We managed to squeak out a trip list of 79 birds, 63 at Back Bay Newport and and additional 16 (out of 50 species) at San Joaquin Marsh. And that was without any rails or peeps! I think next year we’ll go during a dropping or low tide, or a rising-from-low tide. With any luck at all we’ll get hordes of peeps and perhaps a rail or two out wandering around.
| Back Bay Newport / San Joaquin Marsh | 12/09/24 Back Bay | 12/15/24 San Joaquin | 12/09/23 Back Bay | 12/09/23 San Joaquin | 12/10/22 Back Bay |
| Egyptian Goose | 1 | ||||
| Canada Goose | 50 | X | X | X | |
| Gadwall | 20 | X | |||
| American Wigeon | 400 | 70 | X | X | X |
| Mallard | 50 | 20 | X | X | X |
| Blue-winged Teal | 4 | 10 | X | X | |
| Cinnamon Teal | 15 | X | |||
| Northern Shoveler | 50 | X | X | ||
| Northern Pintail | 20 | X | X | X | |
| Green-winged Teal | 30 | 30 | X | X | X |
| Canvasback | X | ||||
| Redhead | 5 | X | X | ||
| Greater Scaup | 1 | X | |||
| Lesser Scaup | 5 | X | X | ||
| Scaup sp | 25 | ||||
| Surf Scoter | X | X | X | ||
| Bufflehead | 30 | 20 | X | X | X |
| Red-Breasted Merganser | X | ||||
| Ruddy Duck | 20 | 20 | X | X | |
| Pied-billed Grebe | 70 | 6 | X | X | X |
| Eared Grebe | 2 | X | X | X | |
| Western Grebe | 10 | 10 | X | X | X |
| Clark’s Grebe | 4 | 10 | X | ||
| Rock Pigeon | 10 | X | X | X | |
| Mourning Dove | 2 | X | X | X | |
| Anna’s Hummingbird | 2 | 2 | X | ||
| Allen’s Hummingbird | 1 | X | |||
| White-throated Swift | 20 | X | |||
| Ridgway’s Rail | 12 | ||||
| Common Gallinule | 1 | 1 | |||
| American Coot | 200 | 50 | X | X | X |
| Black-necked Stilt | 20 | X | |||
| American Avocet | 6 | X | |||
| Black-bellied Plover | X | X | |||
| Killdeer | 30 | X | |||
| Whimbrel | 20 | 10 | X | X | X |
| Long-billed Curlew | 15 | X | X | ||
| Marbled Godwit | 80 | 30 | X | X | X |
| Dunlin | X | ||||
| Least Sandpiper | X | X | |||
| Western Sandpiper | X | X | |||
| Long-billed Dowitcher | 6 | X | X | ||
| Spotted Sandpiper | 1 | X | |||
| Willet | 100 | 50 | X | X | X |
| Greater Yellowlegs | 2 | X | X | ||
| Ring-billed Gull | 100 | 30 | X | X | X |
| Western Gull | 20 | X | X | X | |
| California Gull | 100 | 50 | X | X | X |
| Black Skimmer | 1 | ||||
| Forster’s Tern | 20 | 6 | X | ||
| Double-crested Cormorant | 30 | 20 | X | X | X |
| American White Pelican | 2 | 20 | X | ||
| Brown Pelican | X | X | |||
| Great Blue Heron | 10 | 2 | X | X | X |
| Great Egret | 6 | 2 | X | X | X |
| Snowy Egret | 20 | 10 | X | X | X |
| Yellow-crowned Night Heron | 1 | ||||
| Black-crowned Night Heron | 3 | ||||
| Reddish Egret | X | ||||
| Turkey Vulture | 2 | 3 | X | X | X |
| Osprey | 2 | X | X | X | |
| White-tailed Kite | 2 | ||||
| Northern Harrier | X | ||||
| Cooper’s Hawk | 1 | 1 | X | ||
| Bald Eagle | X | X | |||
| Red-shouldered Hawk | X | ||||
| Red-tailed Hawk | X | X | X | ||
| Belted Kingfisher | 2 | 1 | X | ||
| Nuttall’s Woodpecker | X | ||||
| American Kestrel | 1 | 1 | X | X | |
| Peregrine Falcon | 1 | ||||
| Black Phoebe | 6 | 3 | X | X | X |
| Say’s Phoebe | 5 | 2 | X | X | X |
| Cassin’s Kingbird | 1 | X | X | ||
| California Scrub-Jay | 2 | X | |||
| American Crow | 4 | X | X | X | |
| Tree Swallow | X | ||||
| Barn Swallow | 1 | ||||
| Bushtit | 2 | 6 | X | X | |
| Marsh Wren | H | X | X | ||
| Bewick’s Wren | 1 | X | |||
| Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 1 | 2 | X | ||
| California Gnatcatcher | 1 | ||||
| Swinhoe’s White-eye | 3 | ||||
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 1 | ||||
| Wrentit | H | ||||
| No. Mockingbird | X | X | X | ||
| House Finch | 6 | 10 | X | X | X |
| Lark Sparrow | 1 | ||||
| California Towhee | 1 | X | |||
| Savannah Sparrow | 4 | X | |||
| Song Sparrow | 8 | 20 | X | X | X |
| White-crowned Sparrow | 3 | 15 | X | X | X |
| Common Yellowthroat | 20 | 6 | X | X | X |
| Yello-rumped Warbler | 2 | X | X | X | |
| Western Meadowlark | 1 | ||||
| Red-winged Blackbird | 1 | ||||
| Lesser Goldfinch | X | ||||
| Total Species – 97 | 63 | 50 | 54 | 49 | 68 |
| Total Day BB & SJ | 79 | 65 | |||
| X – Seen | |||||
| H – Heard only | |||||
| 1, 15 – Number seen |
Bodega Bay Beach Bird Bedlam | Pete Myers
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
The September 2024 issue of Natural History Magazine (from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City) has a great article on the birds of Bodega Bay, especially those of Limantour Beach on the south shore of Point Reyes Peninsula.
Entitled Bedlam on the Beach by Pete Myers, it documents the birds on the beach, especially in relation to their favorite foods, particularly the Mole (or Sand) Crab, Emerita analoga, a member of the decapod family Hippidae. The mole doesn’t look much like a crab as it lacks claws, and looks more like a brownish-gray olive. Adults range from less than 1″ for males to just under 2″ for females.
Their unenviable life consists largely of gathering kelp, detritus and plankton with their large antennae during the 5-15 second period the wave rushes out while simultaneously dodging the crowds of shorebirds who rush down behind the retreating wave to gather up this oil and fat-rich prey. The crabs escape capture by burrowing backwards into the churning sand. Somehow they manage to mate and at times millions of their minuscule eggs cover the beach.
Author Pete Myers has kindly made available over 100 photos of bird action on Limantour Beach. https://www.calidris.photography/Birdscapes/Bedlam-on-the-Beach/i-3qbdVsZ
For example, a Long-billed Curlew about to swallow a Mole Crab. Notice the closed eyes, indicating a happy curlew.
Fortunately, the article was republished with permission in EHN – Environmental Health News, also in September 2024. https://www.ehn.org/shorebird-photography-2669121513.html
Fascinating narration and great photos!
Nelson’s Sparrow at Malibu Lagoon
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
Here’s a species that doesn’t show up very often at the lagoon. Or anywhere else in Los Angeles County for that matter.
Discovered by Femi Faminu, who often birds with us (and by herself) at the lagoon, except when she thinks it’s going to thundershower. She sent the photo to Kimball Garrett (NHMOLAC, Ret., now of Juniper Hills) who confirmed the species, later posting on our local bird alert listserve LACoBirds https://groups.io/g/LACoBirds/message/4449:
The Nelson’s Sparrow found and photographed by Femi Faminu at Malibu Lagoon this afternoon would appear to be the first record for Los Angeles County since a fall migrant was found by the Southwest Bird Study Club inland at Piute Ponds 25 September 2017. Another fall migrant was found by Chuck Almdale at the Pepperdine University Ponds in Malibu 27 September 1992. Prior to that the only published record for the county was of two birds in January-February 1944 in the Venice area (likely the northern portions of the old Del Rey marshes which were largely obliterated by the construction of Marina del Rey in the very early 1960s). [This, of course, was prior to the split of Nelson’s and Saltmarsh Sparrows, when the combined species was known as the “Sharp-tailed Sparrow.”]
Given what we know of the status of this species in California, it could well have been semi-regular in fall and winter in salt marshes in L. A. county back when such habitat exceeded postage-stamp size. In recent years the species has been seen rarely but with some regularity in estuaries in the other coastal southern California counties. It’s possible the Malibu Lagoon bird will winter there — but of course this species is good at hiding in continuous marsh vegetation and seeing it may depend on tide levels and good fortune.
It’s possible that the bird may stay near the lagoon for a while, but this species are notorious skulkers in marsh vegetation and difficult to find or ID.
Speaking personally – as my name was mentioned above – I do recall seeing the bird at the north end of the easternmost pond on the front lawn of Pepperdine University on a monthly field trip of Santa Monica Bay Audubon, a mere 32 years ago. While I was apparently the first to report this particular sighting (which comes as news to me), I might (or might not) have been the first to identify it, and I definitely did not discover it. Maja Block, former board member and past president of SMBAS found it skulking in a bush near the pond and alerted the rest of us.
Maja and Femi are similar in regards to their preferred birding behavior, which consists largely in wandering off by themselves, often in distant locales, sometimes to discover something wonderful, sometimes to get tangled in the bushes or bang their head on an airplane wing, as Maja did on a trip to Antarctica. When other birders would notice either of them staring fixedly at something through their binoculars, it would often prove worthwhile to go see just what they were looking at.
Franklin Fire Map Dec. 2024
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
Link to map: https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2024/12/9/franklin-fire
Then you can zoom as close as you want (control+scroll works):
SANTA MONICA BAY AUDUBON SOCIETY BLOG 