Malibu Lagoon Trip Report: 27 July, 2014

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2012 Artist’s perspective of west channels view from SW corner (RestoreMalibuLagoon . com)

The above 2012 Artist’s Perspective of the proposed channels bears a remarkable similarity to July’14 reality.

View to east across channel towards lagoon (Randy Ehler 7/27/14)

I thought it was hot, the many surfers and sunbathers thought it was hot, but the weather service claims it was 66-72° while we were at the lagoon, so that’s what I’m reporting. As expected, species present rose from the annual low in June, which you can see from the trip list below.

Snowy Plover have returned to their wintering roost (J. Waterman 7/27/14)

Semipalmated Plovers stop here briefly during their southward migration (J. Waterman 7/27/14)

Also as expected, the Snowy Plovers have begun to return, with sixteen resting on the beach at the edge of their ‘enclosure.’ One Semipalmated Plover, a species who stops briefly during their spring & fall migrations, also made an appearance. We will probably see them here in August and September as well, then not again until next April.

 

Birds new for the season were: Black-bellied Plover, Snowy Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Ruddy Turnstone, Western & Least Sandpipers, Least Tern, and Spotted Towhee. A Little Blue Heron, an east- & gulf-coast bird, was spotted by early arrivers on the beach but missed by the later group, despite intensive searching. We have recorded it – always a single bird – only three times previously: 10/23/88, 6/25/00, 6/24/07.

Question: Do two heads help a Brown Pelican catch more fish or just confuse him? (J. Waterman 7/27/14)

Two-headed birds, especially two-headed pelicans, are uncommon at the lagoon, so keep an eye out for this unusual bird. The other Brown Pelicans didn’t seem to notice anything odd about it.

Our next four scheduled field trips:   Malibu Lagoon, 24 August, 8:30 & 10am; Lower Los Angeles River, 6 Sep, 7:30am; Coastal Cleanup, 20 Sep, 9am–noon; Malibu Lagoon, 28 Sep, 8:30 & 10am.

Our next program: Tuesday, 7 Oct., 7:30 pm. To Be Announced.

NOTE: Our 10 a.m. Parent’s & Kids Birdwalk meets at the shaded viewing area. Watch for Willie the Weasel.
Links: Unusual birds at Malibu Lagoon
Aerial photo of Malibu Lagoon from 9/23/02.
Prior checklists:
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.

As promised last month, we now return to our pre-project style of trip-list recording. The 10-year comparison summaries created during the project period remain available on our Lagoon Project Bird Census Page. Results unexpectedly indicate that avian species diversification and numbers improved slightly during the period Jun’12-June’14.   [Chuck Almdale]

Malibu Census 2014	1/26	2/23	3/23	5/25	6/22	7/27
Temperature	58-68	60-65	62-70	64-69	68-74	66-72
Tide Lo/Hi Height	L -0.17	L +0.31	L +0.39	H +3.94	H +3.48	H +4.21
Tide Time	1224	1104	1010	0810	0712	1100
Gadwall	21	30	25	12	21
American Wigeon	11	20	31	2
Mallard	10	18	19	26	32	55
Northern Shoveler	15	25
Green-winged Teal	17	12	4
Redhead	1
Surf Scoter		3
Bufflehead	10	8	1
Red-brstd Merganser	1	6	7	3	2	3
Ruddy Duck	51	70	23	6
Pacific Loon		1	1	1
Common Loon	2		1	1
Pied-billed Grebe	2	4	2	2	1	6
Horned Grebe		3
Eared Grebe	1	3
Western Grebe			22
Blk-vented Shearwater	55		many
Brandt’s Cormorant	2			2	1	4
Dble-crstd Cormorant	50	33	45	31	37	35
Pelagic Cormorant			1	1		1
Brown Pelican	100	5	390	37	63	78
Great Blue Heron	1	2	2	4	2	4
Great Egret	2	4	2	2	2	4
Snowy Egret	8	8	8	12	10	22
Little Blue Egret						1
Blk-crwnd N-Heron				2	1	1
Osprey	1	2		1		1
White-tailed Kite				1
Red-shouldered Hawk	2	1
Red-tailed Hawk	2	1		1	1
American Kestrel		1
Merlin	1	1
Peregrine Falcon	1	1
American Coot	60	210	104	2	4	14
Blk-bellied Plover		93	3			25
Snowy Plover	45	24	5			16
Semipalmated Plover						1
Killdeer	2	6	6	4	10	8
Black Oystercatcher		2	2
Spotted Sandpiper	3	2	1	3		1
Willet	10	5	4		1	5
Whimbrel	1	3	5	4	5	28
Marbled Godwit	11	3	4
Ruddy Turnstone	1					2
Sanderling	26	140
Western Sandpiper						1
Least Sandpiper						3
Long-billed Dowitcher			5
Boneparte’s Gull	2			1
Heermann’s Gull	2	3	155	2	4	8
Ring-billed Gull	4	35	18
Western Gull	46	70	190	64	57	71
California Gull	120	110	135		1	1
Herring Gull	1
Glaucous-wingd Gull	3		1
Least Tern						3
Caspian Tern			1	17	3
Common Tern				1
Forster’s Tern				2
Royal Tern	1	6	8	8	18	11
Elegant Tern			135	37	23	127
Rock Pigeon	5	4	4	6	6	16
Eur. Collared-Dove		1
Mourning Dove				2	2	2
Anna’s Hummingbird			1	1	2	2
Allen’s Hummingbird	2	4	4	5	4	3
Western Wood-Pewee				1
Pac.Slope Flycatcher				1
Black Phoebe	5	6	8	6	3	11
Say’s Phoebe	3	3
Cassin’s Kingbird	1	1
Western Scrub-Jay			1
American Crow	11	4	6	6	9	4
Rough-wingd Swallow			20	2	8	7
Tree Swallow		1	8
Barn Swallow			12	19	40	35
Cliff Swallow				6	10	7
Bushtit	20	2	6	8	2	7
Bewick’s Wren		2
House Wren	1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	2	2
Hermit Thrush	2	1
American Robin				1		2
Northern Mockingbird	2	2	7	3	3	6
European Starling		35	15	8	12	22
Phainopepla					1
Ornge-crwnd Warbler	1	1		1
Yellow-rumpd Warbler	30	28	18
Townsend’s Warbler		1
Common Yellowthroat	2	5	4	3		1
Spotted Towhee	2					2
California Towhee	2	1	3	3	3	3
Savannah Sparrow			7
Song Sparrow	3	18	14	11	10	11
White-crwnd Sparrow	6	15	2
Red-winged Blackbird			12	6	30	8
Western Meadowlark		3	3
Great-tailed Grackle	3	3	4	2	4	16
Brwn-headed Cowbird		2		2	2
Hooded Oriole					2	1
House Finch	6	8	11	13	11	14
Lesser Goldfinch	8	12	28	2	2	4
House Sparrow	12
Totals by Type	Jan	Feb	Mar	May	Jun	July
Waterfowl	137	192	110	49	55	58
Water Birds-Other	272	259	566	77	106	138
Herons, Egrets	11	14	12	20	15	32
Raptors	7	7	0	3	1	1
Shorebirds	99	278	35	11	16	90
Gulls & Terns	179	224	643	132	106	221
Doves	5	5	4	8	8	18
Other Non-Pass.	2	4	5	6	6	5
Passerines	122	156	189	104	152	161
Totals Birds	834	1139	1564	410	465	724
Total Species	Jan	Feb	Mar	May	Jun	July
Waterfowl	9	9	7	5	3	2
Water Birds-Other	8	7	9	8	5	6
Herons, Egrets	3	3	3	4	4	5
Raptors	5	6	0	3	1	1
Shorebirds	8	9	9	3	3	10
Gulls & Terns	8	5	8	8	6	6
Doves	1	2	1	2	2	2
Other Non-Pass.	1	1	2	2	2	2
Passerines	20	23	20	20	17	18
Totals Species – 103	63	65	59	55	43	52