Free email delivery
Please sign up for email delivery in the subscription area to the right.
No salesman will call, at least not from us. Maybe from someone else.
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
When a Giant Petrel attacks them, Emperor Penguin chicks stand together against it. Watch out for a cameo from a particularly feisty Adelie penguin! Preview from #SpyInTheSnow, out in the UK December 30th.
If no film or link appears in this email, go to the blog to view it by clicking on the blog title above. If the film stops & starts in an annoying manner, press pause (lower left double bars ||) to let it buffer and get ahead of you. [Chuck Almdale]
Ballona Freshwater Marsh | Safety Update #4 | LA Times
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
But wait! There’s more! Unfortunately it doesn’t involve a super-spud-slicer. The three prior updates are: 7 Apr 2021, 11 Feb 2021 and 29 Jan 2021. Changes are afoot. Maybe.
If you recall from yesterday’s posting, there are hundreds [well…a lot, anyway] of RV’s in varying states of repair parked near the Ballona Freshwater Marsh, and it’s become unsafe and/or impossible to look at birds there, not to mention the accumulated trash and worse.
Due to the pandemic, people out-of-work, jobs and housing lost, the city stopped towing RV’s and/or telling their occupants to move. RV’s are all over town, not just in a few well-known areas of congregation. Here’s a guesstimate: In 90% of L.A. City you won’t have to drive more than ten minutes (maybe only five!) to find at least one such parked & occupied RV.
Los Angeles lifts moratorium on towing RVs, pledges to move problem campers
L.A. Times | Rachel Uranga & Ruben Vives | 7 Apr 2020 | 5 min read
From the article:
Hundreds of people living in recreational vehicles parked on Los Angeles streets have largely avoided towing thanks to a pandemic-era moratorium on impounding oversized vehicles used as homes.
But on Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council voted to lift the moratorium amid growing complaints from residents who say some RV dwellers dump human waste on streets, use drugs and accumulate trash.
City officials say they will begin to enforce the regulation next month, prioritizing RVs and campers that are unregistered, inoperable or heavily damaged, as well as ones that interfere with construction, pose a safety hazard by blocking driveways or traffic or have had multiple responses from the Department of Sanitation. Officials will also resume towing cars that violate posted parking restrictions.
We’ll close with a not-uncommon denizen of the Ballona Freshwater Marsh, usually seen cruising low over the adjacent field.
Ballona Freshwater Marsh | Safety Update #3
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
You can tell by the title that this is a continuing problem. The two prior updates are 11 Feb 2021 and 29 Jan 2021. Nothing good has happened since then.
There was a recent flurry of emails on our local county bird hot line LACoBirds. The pertinent ones are below, names changed to protect the annoyed.
Initial comment, Birder One, 4 Apr 2022, 3:22pm:
Those of you who visit (bird) Ballona Freshwater Marsh already know that the line of broken down RVs along Jefferson has gotten longer than ever. Today I drove by there and not only was there no parking anywhere for birders or casual (nonbirder) observers/tourists, but now tall plastic orange netting has been installed at the [gate] entrance [to the marsh] on Jefferson. I realize that birders aren’t supposed to enter that gate. I also realize that Loyola Marymount students and local residents routinely hike or jog [by passing through the gate] on the same dirt path where birders have gotten (trespassing) tickets.
At this point you cannot even bird the area while trying to do so legally (because you cannot park on Jefferson and stare in from the street), and if you parked somewhere else and walked over to the marsh you could encounter people who have mental health or substance abuse issues and aggressive dogs off leash (I have repeatedly experienced this).
Also, the unhoused citizens who live there on Jefferson spill a lot of solid and liquid waste onto the dirt walkway and yes, you can see trash inside the preserve from them. This is an environmental issue with plastics and organic liquids including radiator fluid entering the water and soil of a nature preserve.
There are no porta-potties anywhere. Where are the 200 to 300 people here going to the bathroom? I seriously doubt that the toilets in their RVs work. The City and County and the State have all neglected their obligations.
What are local Audubon chapters doing about this???
Birder two, 4 Apr 2022, 5:08pm:
This issue is very important to me. I am willing and able to help. We need to do something. This was my patch and quite frankly I have been intimidated away.
Birder three, 4 Apr 2022, 7:24pm:
I’ll take a crack at responding, and maybe others can chime in.
When I was first hired as a subcontractor to monitor the Ballona Freshwater Marsh (“BFM”) 20 years ago, it was obviously well prior to the explosion in outdoor encampments and RV camps across California. There was a brief debate as to who would manage BFM, and I felt at the time it was be a really bad idea to have Playa Vista manage the site, with the State of CA managing a contiguous Ecological Reserve over a split-rail fence. Why not just put it all under the State, managed as a whole, for nature? I was clearly outvoted (not that I actually ever had a say).
To sort out who can do anything about it, one needs to unpack what’s actually going on, if it’s actually illegal, who is responsible for enforcement, etc. Sure, local Audubon chapters can write op-eds or contact their local officials (as can you, or I), but ultimately, enforcement of encampments appears to be mediated by the city council district in which an encampment has formed. You may have read that Mike Bonin, who controls the area, came up with zero encampments recommended for remediation, even as other council members submitted hundreds of sites in their own districts. (No need to hash out that issue on this forum, just search it up.) But it explains why there’s no enforcement of the parking/living situation, the logic being that the RV residents are “home”, and that city can’t “evict” “residents” from “homes”.
As for the management of the site, I believe the BFM itself is managed by Playa Vista’s Ballona Wetlands Conservancy (set up years ago to manage BFM), but they really have no control over who parks their RV where – all they can do is constantly repair fences, clean up feces and needles, etc., which they have for years, as the problem gets worse and worse.
I recently wrote the director of local conservation group at Ballona urging them to pen an editorial in the L.A. Times about how the situation was truly intolerable, how precious wetland function and nature habitats were just getting degraded day after day, etc. I received what can only be described as a brush-off, told that help was coming. This was last fall, soon after four homeless men were shot there. Haven’t gotten around to writing it, but should.
[Birder One], I don’t know what the solution is at this point, I wish I did. Bonin isn’t running for re-election, so perhaps the new council member for the district will value nature. The pandemic restrictions are clearing. The L.A. Co. Sheriff recently announced more clean-ups of encampments where the city hasn’t been interested.
I’ll add that it is not safe to bird (my opinion), particularly to bird alone, and parking is best done across the street on Playa Vista property. I do think, however, that with community will and commitment by the city, it can recover – look at Harbor Park now vs. 20 years ago. BFM is truly a gem of a birding/bird site in the region, one of the best freshwater marsh habitats along the coast, home to many rare and declining species, and an unparalleled location to get people into birding. Though others have apparently done so, I won’t give up on it.
Birder One, 4 Apr 2022, 10:19pm:
We need to generate a list of an ad hoc committee of people (including me) who are angry about this.
I’m going to answer everybody else’s emails tomorrow after I get 8 hours of sleep.
I am heartened by [Birder Three]’s optimism and his example of the restoration of Harbor Park.
Birder Four, 6 Apr 2022, 3:16pm:
Obviously the situation at the Freshwater Marsh is far from ideal for the health of the ecological reserve, for accessibility by nature watchers, and for the RV residents themselves. I agree with [Birder Three]’s comments that things will get better as pandemic policies are slowly eased back. I also agree that it was unwise to leave the Freshwater Marsh out of the ecological reserve and will note that that policy could still be revised.
While I don’t want to disregard anyone’s perceptions about this situation, I do want to say that I ride my bike past the RVs quite often and just this morning stopped to photograph various water fowl in the seasonal wetland areas just south of Jefferson. I have also walked the portion of the FWM path that runs parallel to Lincoln and not had any issues. Each person will have their own comfort level at this area.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, is that the bird watching community has been largely uninvolved in discussing the current and long-term management policies for the complex and very important greater Ballona Wetlands ecosystem. There are unused parking lots in the reserve that should not be there, extensive weeds that could be managed with basic stewardship, expensive habitat projects with no success criteria that aren’t yielding expected results, plans to bury one of the most iconic views of the wetlands (that is also existing nesting habitat for Belding’s Savannah Sparrow) under a new berm, plans to surround the salt pan with another engineered berm that would only extend the life of that critical habitat by a mere 10 years, little league baseball fields in the ecological reserve where elementary students are not allowed entry for ecological study or stewardship, etc. I would respectfully suggest that we have an obligation as a nature-focused community to worry more about long term impacts to wildlife habitats than on impacts to our personal bird watching experiences. I am happy to discuss the Ballona Wetlands with anyone who is interested off-line.
A Cornucopia of Collective Nouns of the Venery
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
Collective nouns of the venery (“the hunt”) were created over many centuries, beginning in the 15th and continuing into the 21st century. These often used nouns are useful and fun to know. What birder hasn’t heard of “an exaltation of larks,” “a murder of crows” or “a parliament of owls.” They are obviously fun to invent as well, and “reams of paper” and “pots of ink” have been devoted to recording and keeping track of them.
The forty collective nouns listed below are for the express delectation of our birding friends. These are the ones you will most enjoy knowing and the one you are most likely to use. Have fun! Sprinkle them into your next birding conversation and watch the faces of your companions light up with delight!
They were selected from a longer list of 934 collective nouns pertaining only to birds, which itself is a portion of a longer list of 7,305 collective nouns in categories ranging from Abstract Nouns to Viruses.
Should you be so inclined to peruse this largest compendium, you will find it here:
https://sites.miamioh.edu/meyersde/the-collective-noun-catalog/
However, if you wish only for the collective nouns pertaining to birds, we extracted them at great labour from the longer list. There are two lists, both arranged as is the list below, and downloadable copies in Adobe PDF are available for both.
List 1: 288 collective nouns of the venery for the period 1400-1614 CE; a double list, alphabetical by bird and by noun, sources given at end.
List 2: 934 collective nouns of the venery for the period 1400-2018 CE, a double list, alphabetical by bird and by noun, sources given at end.
Following are two tables of our forty selections, the first arranged in alphabetical sequence by bird name, the second arranged alphabetically by the collective noun. Following these tables are the written sources from whence they came.
| Alphabetical | First Use | |
| Sequence by Bird | Date | Source |
| A cegee of betterys | 1400s | 30 |
| A dyssymylacyon of bryddys | 1452 | 27 |
| A pype of chekynnysse | 1452 | 27 |
| A courerete of cootys | 1452 | 27 |
| A fflyȝt of coṝmeravnttys | 1400s | 30 |
| A mursher of crowys | 1452 | 27 |
| A badelynge of dokys | 1496 | 03 |
| A padelynge of dookysse | 1452 | 27 |
| A fflẏth of dowẏs | 1400s | 31 |
| A jye of ffesauntȝ | 1400s | 26 |
| A tremynge of goldefynchis | 1400s | 29 |
| A chermyng of goldfȳchys | 1400s | 28 |
| A fflyȝt of goshavkys | 1400s | 30 |
| A gagulle of gyse | 1400s | 30 |
| A brode of hennys | 1496 | 03 |
| A doppyng of herles | 1400s | 29 |
| A sege of heyrōnys | 1400s | 28 |
| An exsalttynge of larkys | 1400s | 30 |
| A desyte of lepewẏkes | 1400s | 31 |
| A fflusche of mallardys | 1452 | 27 |
| A waycche of nyghtynggalys | 1452 | 27 |
| A monstyr of pecockys | 1452 | 27 |
| A couy of pertrikkys | 1400s | 28 |
| A congregacon of plouerys | 1400s | 30 |
| A tygenes of pyes | 1586 | 14 |
| A bevee of quaylys | 1400s | 28 |
| A vnkyndenesse of rauons | 1400s | 29 |
| An onkyndenes of ravynnys | 1400s | 28 |
| A byldynge of rookys | 1400s | 30 |
| A walke of snyttys | 1400s | 30 |
| A hoste of sparowẏs | 1400s | 31 |
| An oste of sparrowys | 1452 | 27 |
| A mormeracyoii of staris | 1400s | 30 |
| A chaterẏng of starẏs | 1400s | 31 |
| A fflẏth of swaleus | 1400s | 31 |
| A turbe of teles | 1420 | 15 |
| A mutacyon of threstyllys | 1400s | 30 |
| A duell of turtylles | 1496 | 03 |
| A ffalle of woodeclckys | 1452 | 27 |
| A heerde of wrennys | 1400s | 29 |
| Alphabetical Sequence | First Use | |
| By Collective Noun | Date | Source |
| A badelynge of dokys | 1496 | 03 |
| A bevee of quaylys | 1400s | 28 |
| A brode of hennys | 1496 | 03 |
| A byldynge of rookys | 1400s | 30 |
| A cegee of betterys | 1400s | 30 |
| A chaterẏng of starẏs | 1400s | 31 |
| A chermyng of goldfȳchys | 1400s | 28 |
| A congregacon of plouerys | 1400s | 30 |
| A courerete of cootys | 1452 | 27 |
| A couy of pertrikkys | 1400s | 28 |
| A desyte of lepewẏkes | 1400s | 31 |
| A doppyng of herles | 1400s | 29 |
| A duell of turtylles | 1496 | 03 |
| A dyssymylacyon of bryddys | 1452 | 27 |
| An exsalttynge of larkys | 1400s | 30 |
| A ffalle of woodeclckys | 1452 | 27 |
| A fflusche of mallardys | 1452 | 27 |
| A fflyȝt of goshavkys | 1400s | 30 |
| A fflyȝt of coṝmeravnttys | 1400s | 30 |
| A fflẏth of dowẏs | 1400s | 31 |
| A fflẏth of swaleus | 1400s | 31 |
| A gagulle of gyse | 1400s | 30 |
| A heerde of wrennys | 1400s | 29 |
| A hoste of sparowẏs | 1400s | 31 |
| A jye of ffesauntȝ | 1400s | 26 |
| A monstyr of pecockys | 1452 | 27 |
| A mormeracyoii of staris | 1400s | 30 |
| A mursher of crowys | 1452 | 27 |
| A mutacyon of threstyllys | 1400s | 30 |
| An onkyndenes of ravynnys | 1400s | 28 |
| An oste of sparrowys | 1452 | 27 |
| A padelynge of dookysse | 1452 | 27 |
| A pype of chekynnysse | 1452 | 27 |
| A sege of heyrōnys | 1400s | 28 |
| A tremynge of goldefynchis | 1400s | 29 |
| A turbe of teles | 1420 | 15 |
| A tygenes of pyes | 1586 | 14 |
| A vnkyndenesse of rauons | 1400s | 29 |
| A walke of snyttys | 1400s | 30 |
| A waycche of nyghtynggalys | 1452 | 27 |
| Sources |
| 3. “The manere of hawkynge & huntynge: and also of diuysynge of Cote armours.” The Boke of Saint Albans. Wynkyn de Worde, 1496. Reproduced in Facsimile. 50-52. |
| 14. Berners, Dame Juliana (attrib). Hawking, Hunting, and Fishing, with the True Measures of Blowing. Newly Corrected and Amended. 1586. Printed by Edward Allde. |
| 15. Cambridge, Trinity College Library. Femina Manuscript. 1420. No. B.14. 40. Folio 88-89b. |
| 26. London, British Museum. Addl. Manuscript 33,994. 15th Century. Folio 26b. |
| 27. London, British Museum. Egerton Manuscript 1995. Circa 1452. Begins on folio 555. |
| 28. London, British Museum. Harley Manuscript 2340. 15th Century. Begins on folio 51a. |
| 29. London, British Museum. Harley Manuscript 541. 15th Century. Begins on folio 225a. |
| 30. London, British Museum. Porkington Manuscript 10. Begins on Folio 184a. |
| 31. London, British Museum. Robert of Gloucester Manuscript, College of Arms. 15th century. |
[By Chuck Almdale]
The water level in the lagoon was ‘middlin’—below the tidal clock sidewalk, but most of the channels remained wet. The tide dropped rapidly from 5.0 ft. @ 0615 to -0.81 ft @ 1339; a drop of almost 6 ft in 7 hours. Rocks were exposed offshore, and mud appeared in the lagoon.
Pale tiles along left side are water level markers.
This was our first ‘open-to-the-public’ bird walk since Feb. 2020. I approached it with trepidation: there would be more than twice the usual number of people, half of them unknown personally to me, how would they behave, would there be fistfights about masking vs unmasking, would my voice carry through my mask, would my voice hold out (I am more easily winded these days), would I still be able to do my census, etc. etc. blah blah blah.
It went pretty well, I think.
I did not require than anyone other than myself wear a mask (as LA County is continually claiming to soon drop the requirement for people indoors) and to my enormous surprise, everyone was masked. At least, as long as they were with the main group.
As usual, people wandered off by themselves—sometimes to return, sometimes not—at which point they usually (I think) drop their masks. I tend to go more slowly than some to point out things to new people and answer questions.
Typical view of a not-uncommon bird at the lagoon
Answer at end of blog
When people bird by themselves, I think they may learn fewer new details, but they learn them more thoroughly because they figure them out for themselves.
About half the group was new (in varying degrees) to birding or at least new to the lagoon. Some of them had watched the Zoom presentation I did for the UCLA Retirees Association earlier in the week and it piqued their interest.
The Elegants are beginning to develop a rosy tint on their breasts.
So, all that aside, it was a very nice day for birding. Because it was overcast the temperature began mild and remained mild. May the weather gods grant us overcast and foggy weather until next December!
We had three events which bordered on being new and unusual.
Firstly, the Song Sparrows and White-crowned Sparrows were singing like crazy. What a racket! All along the pathways we were surrounded by songsters. You would have thought it was springtime. It gave us a great opportunity to hear these two quite different songs and compare them, over and over and over. I think a few people learned to tell the difference. White-crowned Sparrow: a nasally slightly whiney song with a narrower range of frequency than the Song Sparrow, thus sounding a bit more ‘tinny.’ Song Sparrow: richer song, wider frequencies, three parts – slow, fast & short, slow. The three parts can vary widely in content; the last time I read about the Song Sparrow, a few years back, the count was up to 95 different song varieties across their continent-wide range.
Secondly were the eight Glaucous-winged Gulls. [‘Glaucous’ means waxy.] We regularly get this species in small numbers in the winter & spring months, and our previous high counts were twelve birds on 2-22-09 and eleven birds the following month on 3-22-09. I would not be shocked to learn that those were the same individuals in both months.
Compare pale mantle & primaries to Western Gull below
Secondary feathers are very worn
Following that, we had two counts of eight birds, one count of seven, six counts of six, and seven counts of 5 birds, including Jan & Feb of 2022. With 131 census days on which at least one Glaucous-winged Gull was sighted, that leaves 113 sightings of 1 to 4 birds. The resulting average is 2.6 birds/sighting. That’s a good definition for “regular in small numbers.” December through May are the best months for seeing them at the lagoon. We’ve never seen one in September and only one in August.
I suspect (but don’t know for sure) that Glaucous-winged and Western Gulls are each other’s closest relative, for three reasons: they hybridize, they look a great deal alike (Western is much darker on mantle and primaries) and their breeding ranges overlap only slightly, around Seattle and Vancouver. From that location the Western breeds southward to mid-Baja California, while Glaucous-winged breeds northward to Nome and the tip of the Aleutian Islands. It’s interesting to note that the northern subspecies of the Western Gull Larus occidentalis occidentalis, has a lighter mantle (back) than the southern subspecies L. o. wymani.
The third unusual event concerned the other member of the above discussion, the Western Gull. Tidepools formed due to the negative low tide (-0.81 ft), and we came upon a nicely-plumaged adult Western Gull, standing on a small rock next to a tidepool and screaming for all (s)he was worth. It took a while, but we finally figured out what it was all about. See pictures below.
I’d never seen an octopus in the Malibu tidepools before. I have empathy for these interesting creatures who can figure how to pull a cork out of a bottle and reach inside to latch onto a fish. I’d once had a minor tug-of-war with one while scuba-diving at White’s Cove on the Palos Verdes peninsula, and got to watch it go through instantaneous and stunning skin pattern & color changes. In the Alaskan ‘banana belt’ a restaurant-owner with an aquarium told us of the octopuses that would escape. They’d lift up the glass aquarium cover, climb out and down the side to the floor, out the door and across the sand and rock beach to the water about 100 yards away. Holding its breath (gills?) all the way, of course. After several such escapes, the owners gave up trying to keep them.
We managed to find some Snowy Plovers. Counts ranged from seven to ten. I always count at least 5 times. Sometimes 15 times, if they’re at distance or up and running around. Other people are counting as well. Even when the birds are resting they are very difficult to see, as they sit quite low in their little scoops in the sand and can hide behind inch-high bumps. In this case, Chris Tosdevin had a count of ten, so I’m using that.
Malibu Lagoon on eBird: 4/04/22 – 5713 lists, 312 species
Birds new for the season: Elegant Tern, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Barn Swallow, Wrentit.
Many thanks to photographers: Lillian Johnson, Ray Juncosa & Chris Tosdevin.
Upcoming SMBAS scheduled field trips: The 24 April lagoon trip may—or may not—be open to the public, depending on pandemic, of course. You can email your reservation to me beginning 10 April. Limit 30 people by reservation only, vaccine card required (QR code NOT sufficient), bring your own equipment. Two leaders. No 10am Children & Parents walk. Watch the blog for announcements AND for cancellation by 22 April if warranted. Same deal for 22 May lagoon trip.
The next SMBAS program: Laysan Albatrosses & Lead, with Dr. Myra Finkelstein of UC Santa Cruz. Zoom Evening Meeting, Tuesday, 4 May 2022, 7:30 p.m.
The SMBAS 10 a.m. Parent’s & Kids Birdwalk remains canceled until further notice due to the near-impossibility of maintained proper masked social distancing with parents and small children.
The males have been displaying for several months.
Links: Unusual birds at Malibu Lagoon
9/23/02 Aerial photo of Malibu Lagoon
More recent aerial photo
Prior checklists:
2021: Jan-July, 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 Lillian Johnson, Chris Lord, Chris Tosdevin and others for their contributions to this month’s checklist.
The list below now includes a column on the left side with numbers 1-9, keyed to the nine categories of birds at the bottom. The species are re-sequenced to agree to the California Bird Records Committee Official California Checklist, updated 15 Jan 2022. I generally do this at the start of each year.
[Chuck Almdale]
The mystery bird is a Wrentit. We’ve had them 13 out of the past 36 months.
This “voice of the chaparral” is far more often seen than heard.
| Malibu Census 2021-22 | 10/24 | 11/28 | 12/26 | 1/23 | 2/27 | 3/27 | |
| Temperature | 54-63 | 57-70 | 54-62 | 61-73 | 61-70 | 57-65 | |
| Tide Lo/Hi Height | H+5.23 | L+2.35 | L+2.58 | L+2.04 | H+5.76 | H+5.00 | |
| Tide Time | 1105 | 1104 | 0900 | 0645 | 0621 | 0615 | |
| 1 | Canada Goose | 10 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 | |
| 1 | Egyptian Goose | 1 | |||||
| 1 | Cinnamon Teal | 2 | |||||
| 1 | Northern Shoveler | 2 | |||||
| 1 | Gadwall | 4 | 2 | 20 | 29 | 8 | 47 |
| 1 | American Wigeon | 4 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 6 | |
| 1 | Mallard | 3 | 2 | 12 | 20 | 12 | 30 |
| 1 | Northern Pintail | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 1 | Green-winged Teal | 5 | 5 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 15 |
| 1 | Surf Scoter | 10 | 15 | ||||
| 1 | Bufflehead | 1 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 2 | |
| 1 | Hooded Merganser | 13 | |||||
| 1 | Red-breasted Merganser | 17 | 15 | 9 | 6 | 5 | |
| 1 | Ruddy Duck | 5 | 8 | 13 | 4 | 1 | |
| 2 | Pied-billed Grebe | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 2 | Horned Grebe | 1 | |||||
| 2 | Eared Grebe | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 2 | Western Grebe | 12 | 30 | 12 | 16 | ||
| 7 | Feral Pigeon | 6 | 52 | 3 | 20 | 10 | 8 |
| 7 | Band-tailed Pigeon | 3 | |||||
| 7 | Eurasian Collared-Dove | 1 | |||||
| 7 | Mourning Dove | 5 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | |
| 8 | Anna’s Hummingbird | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
| 8 | Allen’s Hummingbird | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 2 | American Coot | 240 | 245 | 360 | 49 | 73 | 65 |
| 5 | Black-bellied Plover | 87 | 166 | 104 | 58 | 25 | 28 |
| 5 | Killdeer | 23 | 20 | 10 | 2 | 10 | 4 |
| 5 | Semipalmated Plover | 2 | |||||
| 5 | Snowy Plover | 34 | 40 | 34 | 15 | 10 | |
| 5 | Whimbrel | 4 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 2 | 8 |
| 5 | Marbled Godwit | 34 | 9 | 71 | 32 | 1 | |
| 5 | Ruddy Turnstone | 6 | 1 | 6 | 5 | ||
| 5 | Sanderling | 104 | 22 | 22 | 1 | 45 | |
| 5 | Dunlin | 2 | |||||
| 5 | Least Sandpiper | 9 | 3 | 35 | 12 | 20 | 10 |
| 5 | Western Sandpiper | 2 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 35 | |
| 5 | Willet | 25 | 34 | 13 | 15 | 8 | 6 |
| 6 | Bonaparte’s Gull | 2 | 1 | ||||
| 6 | Heermann’s Gull | 2 | 53 | 26 | 45 | 1 | 8 |
| 6 | Ring-billed Gull | 2 | 28 | 170 | 40 | 175 | 16 |
| 6 | Western Gull | 63 | 92 | 85 | 95 | 88 | 95 |
| 6 | California Gull | 9 | 515 | 370 | 925 | 510 | 185 |
| 6 | Herring Gull | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 6 | Glaucous-winged Gull | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 8 | |
| 6 | Caspian Tern | 1 | 8 | ||||
| 6 | Royal Tern | 2 | 5 | 2 | 35 | ||
| 6 | Elegant Tern | 6 | |||||
| 2 | Red-throated Loon | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||
| 2 | Pacific Loon | 1 | 2 | ||||
| 2 | Common Loon | 2 | 1 | ||||
| 2 | Black-vented Shearwater | 1000 | |||||
| 2 | Brandt’s Cormorant | 2 | 10 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | Pelagic Cormorant | 1 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 3 | 1 |
| 2 | Double-crested Cormorant | 67 | 52 | 39 | 45 | 51 | 33 |
| 2 | Brown Pelican | 21 | 99 | 44 | 110 | 15 | 23 |
| 3 | Great Blue Heron | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 3 | Great Egret | 3 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 5 | |
| 3 | Snowy Egret | 11 | 4 | 24 | 6 | 3 | 4 |
| 3 | Green Heron | 2 | 1 | ||||
| 3 | Black-crowned Night-Heron | 1 | 1 | 5 | |||
| 4 | Turkey Vulture | 1 | 1 | 5 | |||
| 4 | Osprey | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 4 | Cooper’s Hawk | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 4 | Red-shouldered Hawk | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 4 | Red-tailed Hawk | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 8 | Belted Kingfisher | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 8 | Downy Woodpecker | 1 | |||||
| 8 | Nuttall’s Woodpecker | 1 | |||||
| 8 | Hairy Woodpecker | 1 | |||||
| 4 | Merlin | 1 | |||||
| 9 | Black Phoebe | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | Say’s Phoebe | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 9 | California Scrub-Jay | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | |
| 9 | American Crow | 6 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 20 | 6 |
| 9 | Common Raven | 1 | |||||
| 9 | Oak Titmouse | 1 | |||||
| 9 | Tree Swallow | 2 | |||||
| 9 | No. Rough-winged Swallow | 2 | |||||
| 9 | Barn Swallow | 2 | 4 | ||||
| 9 | Bushtit | 48 | 12 | 4 | 4 | ||
| 9 | Wrentit | 1 | 2 | ||||
| 9 | Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 9 | Blue-gray Gnatcatcher | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 9 | House Wren | 2 | 1 | ||||
| 9 | Marsh Wren | 2 | |||||
| 9 | Bewick’s Wren | 1 | 4 | ||||
| 9 | Northern Mockingbird | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 9 | European Starling | 31 | 9 | 15 | 30 | 3 | |
| 9 | Hermit Thrush | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 9 | House Finch | 4 | 18 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 15 |
| 9 | Lesser Goldfinch | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | |
| 9 | Dark-eyed Junco | 2 | 4 | 3 | |||
| 9 | White-crowned Sparrow | 5 | 15 | 17 | 35 | 25 | 20 |
| 9 | Savannah Sparrow | 1 | |||||
| 9 | Song Sparrow | 4 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 10 |
| 9 | California Towhee | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 9 | Western Meadowlark | 1 | |||||
| 9 | Red-winged Blackbird | 2 | |||||
| 9 | Great-tailed Grackle | 4 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 9 | Orange-crowned Warbler | 2 | 1 | ||||
| 9 | Common Yellowthroat | 4 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| 9 | Yellow-rumped Warbler | 6 | 19 | 20 | 10 | 6 | 1 |
| Totals by Type | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb | Mar | |
| 1 | Waterfowl | 23 | 49 | 113 | 88 | 52 | 127 |
| 2 | Water Birds – Other | 349 | 414 | 452 | 1259 | 164 | 146 |
| 3 | Herons, Egrets & Ibis | 18 | 8 | 38 | 18 | 5 | 10 |
| 4 | Quail & Raptors | 0 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| 5 | Shorebirds | 332 | 307 | 299 | 135 | 97 | 146 |
| 6 | Gulls & Terns | 79 | 689 | 655 | 1118 | 783 | 363 |
| 7 | Doves | 11 | 53 | 4 | 21 | 17 | 10 |
| 8 | Other Non-Passerines | 3 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| 9 | Passerines | 56 | 163 | 107 | 117 | 118 | 81 |
| Totals Birds | 871 | 1689 | 1682 | 2767 | 1247 | 894 | |
| Total Species | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb | Mar | |
| 1 | Waterfowl | 6 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| 2 | Water Birds – Other | 8 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 7 |
| 3 | Herons, Egrets & Ibis | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| 4 | Quail & Raptors | 0 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| 5 | Shorebirds | 12 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| 6 | Gulls & Terns | 6 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 9 |
| 7 | Doves | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 8 | Other Non-Passerines | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 | Passerines | 19 | 16 | 20 | 20 | 17 | 16 |
| Totals Species – 102 | 58 | 57 | 69 | 72 | 67 | 59 |
SANTA MONICA BAY AUDUBON SOCIETY BLOG 