[By Chuck Almdale]

Birders at 1st viewpoint near the PCH bridge (Ray Juncosa 7/23/23)

We started off small, but grew with the passing of time. Late arrivers appearing out of nowhere. The sky was overcast, keeping things cool, which was just fine with everyone. It never got over 70°F while we were there. Elsewhere, inland, people were sweltering.

Lots of algae in the lagoon (Ray Juncosa 7/23/23)

As always happens in the summer, algae grows across much of the surface of the lagoon. It doesn’t seem to bother the birds and we see the ducks swimming through it. And there were a lot of ducks, about 90% of which were young birds in various stages of ducklinghood.

Mallard balancing act (Ray Juncosa 7/23/23)

The Heermann’s Gulls are still in the 100’s, as they have been since May, and I suspect they had a good nesting year down in the Sea of Cortez. We’re getting all ages of them, unlike years when there is a massive nesting failure due to lack of properly-sized food fish and we get no young birds.

Two Heermann’s Gulls: Left 2nd year, Right probably 3rd year. (L: Lynzie Flynn 7/23/23, R: Grace Murayama 7/28/23)

The Snowy Plovers have returned. They were across the exit channel from us, wandering slowly along a ridge of sand and they kept appearing and disappearing. But we managed to see seven at one time, so there were at least that many. Grace Murayama and Larry Loeher came a few days later to census the plovers and Grace photographed this well-banded bird below.

Snowy Plover Yy: R(or O)b (Grace Murayama 7/13/29)

Every now and then something happens to a plover’s wire-thin legs or feet. It’s a rarely-solved mystery just how this happens. I don’t think (but could be wrong) that it’s due to the banding process, as I believed happened two decades ago, as this bird below has no bands on the other leg. These days, all of the banded Snowy Plovers I see are banded on both legs. Unless, of course, they lose one.

Showy Plover missing right leg at Malibu Lagoon.
(Jeffrey Fenwick, 07/19/23 eBird)

These beautiful little flowers were growing along the edge of the path/road to the beach, beginning about 20 feet from the traffic roundabout. Heliotrope means “sun + turn,” but whether these flowers on their tiny tiny stem actually turn to follow the sun, I don’t know.

Seaside or Alkali Heliotrope (Ray Juncosa 7/23/23)

When the algae dries and dies, it looks like this (Ray Juncosa 7/23/23)

The Canada Geese have now been at the lagoon for seven consecutive months. They reached a peak in March when there were six, then in April there were five, but for June and July they’ve been four, two adults and two young who are now nearly full-sized.

The Canada Geese family still stands at four (Ray Juncosa 7/23/23)

We had only eight species of shorebird, including four of plover. These two are still in their breeding plumages.

Willet and Whimbrel on exposed rocks (Lynzie Flynn 7/23/23)

What can I say? Who knew that Double-crested Cormorants did this sort of sorting?

The Arc of the Cormorant. (Grace Murayama 7/28/23)

More beautiful flowers. These Morning Glories are growing along the back wall of Malibu Colony.

Morning Glory (Ray Juncosa 7/23/23)

This common white (with a little yellow) Cabbage Butterfly Pieris rapae is not native to the Americas, but was introduced from Europe in the 1860s and has since spread across the continent.

Cabbage Butterfly Pieris rapae, introduced in the 1860s.
(Grace Murayama 7/28/23)

The very first non-water/shore/sea birds we saw in the morning were a pair of Hooded Orioles, a female and a young male. They nested at the lagoon again this year, but I never found their nest, which oft-times is suspended under a palm frond. We didn’t see the adult male. Five days later, Grace found him.

Hooded Oriole male (Grace Murayama 7/28/23)

We had four species of egret/heron. When we were still at the first viewpoint we saw two adult Black-crowned Night-Herons fly in from the west and disappear into the thick foliage of one of the big trees at the eastern end of Malibu Colony. When we finally got down to the beach, an hour or so later, we searched through the leaves and managed to find both, keeping well out of the sunlight. No pictures, though.

Snowy Egret, coming and going (Grace Murayama 7/13/29)

Great Blue Herons. Look very closely at the right bird; that tongue is not a tongue. (7/23/23. Left: Ray Juncosa, Right: Lynzie Flynn)

Birds new for the Season: Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Snowy Plover, Least Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, California Gull, Northern Mockingbird.

Malibu Lagoon on eBird as of 7-29-23: 7007 lists, 319 species
Most recent eight species added: Lilac-crowned Parrot (13 May 2023), Scripp’s Murrelet, American Golden Plover, Swainson’s Thrush, Red-necked Stint, Barn Owl, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-crowned Parrot (31 Jan 2021).

Many thanks to photographers: Lynzie Flynn, Ray Juncosa, Grace Murayama

Upcoming SMBAS scheduled field trips:

• Malibu Lagoon, Sun Aug 27, 8:30 am. No reservations or Covid card required.
• Coastal Cleanup Day, Malibu Lagoon, Sat. Sep 16, 9 am–Noon
• Malibu Lagoon, Sun Sep 24, 8:30 am. No reservations or Covid card required.
• 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. Tuesday, 3 Oct. 2023, 7:30 p.m.

The SMBAS 10 a.m. Parent’s & Kids Birdwalk restarted April 23. Reservations for groups (scouts, etc.) necessary, but not for families.

Links: Unusual birds at Malibu Lagoon
9/23/02 Aerial photo of Malibu Lagoon
More recent aerial photo

Prior checklists:
2023: 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 Lynzie Flynn, Ray Juncosa and others for their contributions to this month’s checklist.

The species lists below is irregularly re-sequenced to agree with the California Bird Records Committee Official California Checklist as updated 4 Feb 2023. If part of the chart’s right side is hidden, there’s a slider button at the bottom of the list.
[Chuck Almdale]

	Malibu Census 2023	2/26	3/26	4/23	5/28	6/25	7/23
	Temperature	53-55	57-60	57-66	61-62	59-71	66-70
	Tide Lo/Hi Height	L+0.81	L+0.28	L-.041	L+0.81	L+0.89	L+0.81
	Tide Time	0911	0800	0637	1131	0919	0730
1	Canada Goose	2	6	4	5	4	4
1	Cinnamon Teal	1
1	Northern Shoveler	7
1	Gadwall	58	42	24	17	45	90
1	American Wigeon	4
1	Mallard	32	12	15	12	33	77
1	Green-winged Teal	26	5
1	Redhead		3
1	Surf Scoter	6	22	3	2
1	Bufflehead	5
1	Red-breasted Merganser	3	2
1	Ruddy Duck	8
2	Pied-billed Grebe	1	1	2
2	Western Grebe	40	80	6
7	Feral Pigeon	5	6	1	8
7	Eurasian Collared-Dove				2
7	Mourning Dove	2	1	2	2	2	2
8	White-throated Swift		5
8	Anna’s Hummingbird			1		1	1
8	Allen’s Hummingbird	3	3	2	1	2	4
2	American Coot	73	37	6		5
5	Black-bellied Plover	62	3				6
5	Killdeer	12	5	4	4	8	8
5	Semipalmated Plover			14			1
5	Snowy Plover	16		1			7
5	Whimbrel	2	25	16		11	32
5	Marbled Godwit	17	2
5	Ruddy Turnstone	3
5	Sanderling	32	2
5	Dunlin			2
5	Least Sandpiper	27		19			4
5	Western Sandpiper			30			6
5	Willet	9	7	2		7	5
6	Bonaparte’s Gull				3
6	Heermann’s Gull	3	3	80	152	94	89
6	Short-billed Gull	1
6	Ring-billed Gull	40	46	120	12	5	1
6	Western Gull	38	26	50	72	105	150
6	California Gull	237	95	60			2
6	Herring Gull	1	2
6	Glaucous-winged Gull	4
6	Caspian Tern		2		2
6	Royal Tern	14	13		3	20
6	Elegant Tern		90	630	305	150	2
6	Black Skimmer	3				2
2	Red-throated Loon		1
2	Pacific Loon		1	1
2	Common Loon		2	1
2	Brandt’s Cormorant	1		12	8	2
2	Pelagic Cormorant	1	2	3	3	1
2	Double-crested Cormorant	67	26	53	74	75	42
2	American White Pelican	1
2	Brown Pelican	159	62	655	168	162	174
3	Great Blue Heron		2		1	4	4
3	Great Egret	2	2	1	2	2	3
3	Snowy Egret	6	2	1	3	4	4
3	Black-crowned Night-Heron					2	2
3	White-faced Ibis	1
4	Turkey Vulture	5	5	1		2
4	Osprey		1	1	1
4	Cooper’s Hawk	1				1	1
4	Red-tailed Hawk	1	2	2
4	Peregrine Falcon			1
9	Cassin’s Kingbird	1	1
9	Pacific-slope Flycatcher			1
9	Black Phoebe	3	2	1	6	4	6
9	Say’s Phoebe	1
9	California Scrub-Jay					2	1
9	American Crow	27	6	4	3	9	20
9	Common Raven	1	2		2		2
9	Oak Titmouse					1
9	Northern Rough-winged Swallow	2	6	6	5	15
9	Barn Swallow		14	15	30	35	12
9	Cliff Swallow	24	3	25	4	30
9	Bushtit	3	3	2	8	4	22
9	Wrentit			1	1
9	Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1
9	Cedar Waxwing		12
9	House Wren			2
9	Bewick’s Wren		1			1
9	Northern Mockingbird			1			1
9	European Starling	9		2	3	6
9	House Finch	6	5	7	13	8	15
9	Lesser Goldfinch	10	5	2	5	1
9	Dark-eyed Junco				1		1
9	White-crowned Sparrow	25	12
9	Song Sparrow	5	5	7	10	5	5
9	California Towhee	3	1	5	3	1	3
9	Hooded Oriole			1	1	3	1
9	Red-winged Blackbird		2		4	3	6
9	Brown-headed Cowbird			1	3		1
9	Great-tailed Grackle		6	4	2	1
9	Orange-crowned Warbler	1	3	1	1
9	Common Yellowthroat	4	3	1
9	Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s)	2	7
9	Wilson’s Warbler				1
	Totals by Type	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul
1	Waterfowl	152	92	46	36	82	171
2	Water Birds – Other	343	212	739	253	245	216
3	Herons, Egrets & Ibis	9	6	2	6	12	13
4	Quail & Raptors	7	8	5	1	3	1
5	Shorebirds	180	44	88	4	26	69
6	Gulls & Terns	341	277	940	549	376	244
7	Doves	7	7	3	12	2	2
8	Other Non-Passerines	3	8	3	1	3	5
9	Passerines	128	99	89	106	129	96
	Totals Birds	1170	753	1915	968	878	817
	Total Species	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul
1	Waterfowl	11	7	4	4	3	3
2	Water Birds – Other	8	9	9	4	5	2
3	Herons, Egrets & Ibis	3	3	2	3	4	4
4	Quail & Raptors	3	3	4	1	2	1
5	Shorebirds	9	6	8	1	3	8
6	Gulls & Terns	9	8	5	7	6	5
7	Doves	2	2	2	3	1	1
8	Other Non-Passerines	1	2	2	1	2	2
9	Passerines	18	20	20	20	17	14
	Totals Species – 96	64	60	56	44	43	40