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Malibu Lagoon Monthly Field Trip: Sunday, 28 April 2024
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
(L. Loeher Malibu Lagoon 04-19-19)
It’s ALWAYS the 4th (not the last!) Sunday of the month.
Same as last month: No reservations, no Covid card checks, no fuss, no muss.
Rules for Malibu Lagoon trip
- Masks not required; feel free to wear one whenever you want.
- Bring your own binoculars & telescope if you have them.
- We do have loaner binos but they don’t always show up in time to hand out.
- Participation in social activities, such as field trips, comes with an inherent risk of exposure to infectious disease. Prospective participants should self-evaluate or discuss with their doctor if their participation merits this risk. If you’re sick or experiencing any symptoms that indicate you might be sick, STAY HOME.
- The 10am Children & Parents Walk is reinstated. Call Jean Garrett (213)-522-0062
- For general questions contact Chuck: misclists[AT]verizon.net
Weather: Pleasant. Temp: 55-65°, Wind: ENE 6 mph, Clouds: 17%>10%, rain: 0%
Tide: Very low & rising: Low: -0.14 ft.@7 :38am; High: +2.69 ft.@ 3:02pm
Some of the wintering birds have left, but many remain, and our breeding birds are arriving. The air may be filled with swallows. There may be grebes, loons, pelicans, ducks, egrets, hawks, shorebirds, flycatchers, orioles, finches, ad infinitum.
Still more birds than you can shake a stick at:
Brant, Clark’s Grebe, Osprey, American Kestrel, Virginia Rail, Sora, Snowy Plover, Greater Yellowlegs, Black Turnstone, Surfbird, Dunlin, Bonaparte’s Gull, Royal, Elegant & Forster’s Terns, Eurasian Collared & White-winged Doves, Tree & Violet-Green Swallows, American Pipit, Cedar Waxwing, Orange-crowned & Wilson’s Warblers, Lazuli Bunting and Lesser Goldfinch.
If you arrive early you may perchance to espy a congregacon of plouerys.
Adult Walk 8:30 a.m., 4th Sunday of every month. Beginner and experienced, 2-3 hours. Species range from 35 in June to 60-75 during migrations and winter. We move slowly and check everything as we move along. When lagoon outlet is closed we may continue east around the lagoon to Adamson House. We put out special effort to make our monthly Malibu Lagoon walks attractive to first-time and beginning birdwatchers. So please, if you are at all worried about coming on a trip and embarrassing yourself because of all the experts, we remember our first trips too. Someone showed us the birds; now it’s our turn. Bring your birding questions.
Children and Parents Walk, 10:00 a.m., 4th Sunday of every month: One hour session, meeting at the metal-shaded viewing area between parking lot and channel. We start at 10:00 for a shorter walk and to allow time for families to get it together on a sleepy Sunday morning. Our leaders are experienced with kids so please bring them to the beach! We have an ample supply of binoculars that children can use without striking terror into their parents. We want to see families enjoying nature. (If you have a Scout Troop or other group of more than seven people, you must call Jean (213-522-0062) to make sure we have enough binoculars, docents and sand.)
Directions: Malibu Lagoon is at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and Cross Creek Road, west of Malibu Pier and the bridge, 15 miles west of Santa Monica via PCH. We gather in the metal-shaded area near the parking lot. Look around for people wearing binoculars. Neither Google Maps nor the State Park website supply a street address for the parking lot. The address they DO supply is for Adamson House which is just east of the Malibu Creek bridge.
Parking: Parking machine installed in the lagoon lot: 1 hr $3; 2 hrs $6; 3 hrs $9, all day $12 ($11 seniors); credit cards accepted. Annual passes accepted. You may also park (read signs carefully) on either of PCH west of Cross Creek Road, on Cross Creek Road, or on Civic Center Way north (inland) of the shopping center. Lagoon parking in shopping center lots is not permitted (i.e. they tow cars).
Link to last year’s trip report: April 23 2023.
Prior checklists:
2023: Jan-June, July-Dec
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
[Written & posted by Chuck Almdale]
Red and Lilac-crowned Parrots in SoCal, with Brenda Ramirez: Zoom Evening Meeting, Tuesday, 7 May, 7:30 p.m.
You are all invited to the next ZOOM meeting
of Santa Monica Bay Audubon Society
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Red and Lilac-crowned Parrots in SoCal, with Brenda Ramirez
Zoom Evening Meeting, Tuesday, 7 May, 7:30 p.m.
Zoom waiting room opens 7:15 p.m.
Non-native parrots have become a very present and boisterous element of the urban ecosystems throughout Southern California. Ranging from cities to more natural areas, parrots can be found in a variety of habitats where they coexist with people. Through the Free-Flying Los Angeles Parrot Project (FLAPP) on iNaturalist, we created a dataset focused on two of the more prominent species in Southern California, the Red-crowned and Lilac-crowned Parrots. After being introduced through the illegal pet trade, these sister-species have established their populations and even created mixed-species flocks that would not be possible otherwise. Originally from opposite coasts of Mexico, these parrots are model organisms for answering questions on range shifts and hybridization because of the unique displacement that has led to their coexistence. Our research has focused on distinguishing the two species based on morphological features, comparing the environmental conditions between their respective native ranges and their introduced range, and we are now shifting to understanding how their genetic makeup has been affected. Join us to learn how you can help contribute to our research from your own neighborhoods!
Brenda Ramirez has experience working with large citizen science datasets and incorporating them into spatial models to understand species distributions over thousands of years. Having recently graduated with her master’s degree from Cal Poly Pomona, Brenda is now working on Moore Lab’s Free-flying Los Angeles Parrot Project (FLAPP) to evaluate how the non-native Los Angeles parrot populations have changed genetically as they have adapted to their new urban habitats.
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King Gillette Field Trip reminder, Sat. 20 Apr 2024, 8am
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
Saturday, 20 April. King Gillette Ranch. This 588-acre area was previously owned by razor magnate King Gillette, then by Soka University. While exploring both the developed creeks, lawns, groves and ponds, as well as undeveloped chaparral and riparian habitats, we’ll be looking for birds resident in these habitats such as California Thrasher, as well as any early migrants and wintering birds such as Lewis’ Woodpecker, which have been reported in the area. Oddities can turn up, such as the Northern Parula last New Year’s Day.
Family Guide: 1-2 miles of easy walking, roads, paths and lawn on mostly level ground.
[26800 Mulholland Hwy, Calabasas, CA 91302] From the intersection of Las Virgenes (Malibu Canyon) Rd. & Mulholland Hwy., east on Mulholland to the 1st right, past the park gate to the 1st right towards the Botanic Center (Native Plants Garden) where we meet. Here there are bathrooms, a drinking fountain, nature center and picnic tables should you choose to bring lunch. Free parking here, I believe. If you drive across the short bridge, parking is not free. Allow 45 minutes travel time from Santa Monica.
Meet at 8:00 am Leader: Chuck Bragg (310-454-9662)
A Comment on Binos
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
As we’re a bunch of hot-shot, know-it-all birders, we’re always getting questions about binoculars, telescopes and whatnot when we’re out and about prying rarities out of the bushes. We don’t mind, really.
I was renewing my (free, I think) subscription to Cornell Labs What About Birds? newsletter and they were giving away a couple of prizes for re-subscribing, one of them being a new (to me) Zeiss binocular, their Terra ED line, which comes in six versions from pocket-sized 10×25 to 10×42. Zeiss has long made great optical equipment so I googled for reviews on it and found Optics4Birding review of the 42mm version. It’s an excellent (in the sense of very informative) review, a paragon of reviews, in my opinion. I recommend anyone to it, especially people who write binocular reviews, as it mentions just about everything that anyone would like to know about a binocular before buying it, and it’s (IMHO) fair and objective.
My own best advice for anyone who is in the market for a binocular has been the same for about 30 years: go on a couple of bird walks and when you see a binocular that looks interesting, ask the owner if you may look through it. Your own comfort is of paramount importance and there really isn’t any way to know that without hands-on use. Birders are [generally] helpful, friendly sorts. Follow whatever instructions/suggestions/requests they offer. They’ll also tell you what they like/dislike about their binocular while you try it. If they don’t, ask. But don’t hog it and give it back immediately if a “good bird” comes along. Don’t forget to ask the price.
What you should be willing to pay depends: the vast range of possible cost ($25 to $2000), how long you’ve been birding, how certain you are that you wish to continue, the size of your wallet, your comfort level. Avoid “fixed focus” or “fast focus” which are suitable for football games and little else. Binoculars are a bit like cars: you get what you pay for but on a hyperbolic curve, i.e. lower end = big improvements for little bucks, upper end = little improvements for big bucks.
That said, if you read the review linked to above, you’ll have an excellent idea of what to look for in a binocular while you’re holding it in your very own hands.
We have four prior postings about binoculars & their use:
My New Binoculars June 2014
Binoculars: What Are All the New Features and What Do They Mean to Me? July 2019
Everything You Wanted to Know About Using Binoculars (But Were Afraid to Ask) Dec 2019
Advice on Binoculars June 2023
The recording of this program from 2 Apr 2024 is now available online
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You are what you eat: Stable isotopes reveal dietary variation in Great Black-backed Gulls, with Dr. Kristen Covino
The presentation argues for the need to study diet in gulls and presents current and ongoing research on the diet of Great Black-backed Gulls. In this research we include the use of stable isotope analyses of the feathers to investigate variations in adults and chicks. We will review recent findings which indicate that adult gulls may differ in what they feed their chicks, and may preferentially feed the first-to-hatch chick higher quality food items.
Dr. Kristen Covino earned her B.S. degree in Biology from Canisius College in Buffalo, NY, her M.S. in Biology/Zoology from the University of Maine, Orono, and her Ph.D. from the University of Southern Mississippi where she investigated physiological breeding development in migrating songbirds. She is currently an Associate Professor of Biology at Loyola Marymount University. Her research ranges from in depth studies of avian physiology and endocrinology to continental-scale migratory movements. Professor Covino’s pedagogical interests include integrating active and team-learning activities into traditional lectures, incorporating science communication into her courses, and mentoring undergraduate researchers. She teaches a summer Field Ornithology course at the Shoals Marine Laboratory (Cornell University) on Appledore Island, Maine, where she also co-manages the Appledore Island Bird Banding Station and collaborates with the Gulls of Appledore Research Group. Dr. Covino also partners with the Friends of Ballona Wetlands and the Bear Divide Banding Station group on several LA-based research projects. Professor Covino’s research has been published in numerous professional journals including Hormones and Behavior, General and Comparative Endocrinology, AUK: Ornithological Advances, and The Journal of Ornithology. Dr. Covino receives funding from the Foster (SMBAS) endowment at Loyola.
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