Malibu Lagoon Trip Report: 26 April, 2015

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Even at the meeting spot the air was filled with the screeching of terns. Flights of Brown Pelicans constantly cruised by, and clouds of terns regularly lifted from the distant beach, only to alight again upon the sand. This promised to be an unusual day.

Finally! An Osprey on the osprey pole (R.Ehlers 4/26/15)

Passerines (songbirds) were few on the ground. Early-arriving photographer Randy Ehlers (thanks for all the great pictures, Randy!) spotted 40 Cedar Waxwings, who were living up to their ‘betcha-can’t-see-just-one’ reputation. No warblers, few sparrows and little of anything else beyond the usual Black Phoebe, Mockingbird, California Towhee and House Finch. Various Swallows have arrived, but not in large numbers.

From the lookout point near the PCH bridge, the terns – save a few Caspian and Forster’s – turned out to all be Elegant. And they looked very elegant as long-time member Abigail King liked to say, with bright white bodies, long forked tails, black crests and legs, and colorful bills ranging from pale yellow through orange to medium red. People often ask if the bill color of Elegant Terns is useful for identification. The short answer is: when comparing the Elegant bill to the Royal bill, look at shape, ignore color.

Elegant Tern (R.Ehlers 4/26/15)

At any rate, there were a boodle – maybe two boodles – of Elegant Terns; I counted 3100. This took a while. They were busy with mating, chasing, flying, feeding and always, always screeching. Some had breasts faintly pink from their oil glands. We did find a few more Caspian and Forster’s among them, and some Royal Terns far out on the exposed shore rocks. And it was a great chance to see the varieties of Elegant bill color.

Spotted Sandpiper with his spotty breast (R.Ehlers 4/26/15)

Back home, I checked for previous highs counts for Elegant Tern and Brown Pelican.
Brown Pelican: 1490 (4/26/15), 740 (4/24/11), 630 (5/27/07), 407 (7/24/11), 400 (3/26/06)
Elegant Tern: 3100 (4/26/15), 700 (4/26/09), 600 (7/28/13), 300 (7/25/04), 250 (4/27/03)
Definitely a phenomena of migration.

I asked Kimball Garrett, ‘skin man’ at the Natural History of L.A. County Ornithology Dept., if anything weird was happening with the terns and pelicans. He relates: the Brown Pelican 2014 nesting season in the Sea of Cortez failed almost completely; no info yet on 2015.  Warm SoCal coastal water this year may reduce Channel Island nesting. Our Malibu flock may be a  mix of failed breeders from Mexico and our Channel Islands. Elegant Tern nesting on Isla Raza in the Sea of Cortez apparently failed completely this year; as in recent past years, the southern California colonies seem to shift around as predators cause abandonment.

Snowy Plovers have been mysteriously absent since January. Populations at other L.A. County winter roosting sites, including nearby Zuma Beach have also been affected, says Stacey Vigallon, L.A. County Snowy Plover maven. She didn’t know why, either.

Birds new for the season were: Brant, Eared Grebe, Semipalmated Plover, Dunlin, Least & Western Sandpipers, Caspian & Forster’s Terns, Belted Kingfisher, Cliff Swallow, Cedar Waxwing. We didn’t get over to Adamson House as the lagoon outlet cut through the beach and by the time I finished counting all those pelicans, gulls and terns, I too was finished.

Our next three scheduled field trips:  Morongo Valley & Black Rock Cyn, 2-3 May, 8am; Malibu Lagoon, 24 May, 8:30 & 10am; Mt. Piños Birds & Butterflies, TBA (probably 13-14 June, 8am.)

Our next program: Tuesday, 5 May, 7:30 pm. Icelandic Birding, presented by Joyce & Doug Waterman. PLEASE NOTE THAT WE NOW MEET AT DOUGLAS PARK, 2439 WILSHIRE BLVD.

Song Sparrow visits from the Maliby Colony (R.Ehlers 4/26/15)

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
9/23/02 Aerial photo of Malibu Lagoon
Prior checklists:
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 project period remain available on our Lagoon Project Bird Census Page. Very briefly summarized, the results unexpectedly indicate that avian species diversification and numbers improved slightly during the period Jun’12-June’14.   [Chuck Almdale]

Malibu Census 2015	11/23	12/28	1/25	2/22	3/22	4/26
Temperature	60-70	39-61	73-81	55-63	62-71	66-76
Tide Lo/Hi Height	H+6.41	L+1.70	L+1.32	H+4.51	H+4.78	L+0.58
Tide Time	0849	0903	0705	1137	1137	1131
Brant						3
Canada Goose					1	30
Gadwall		26	22	30	1	10
American Wigeon		10	18	18
Mallard	2	10	12	12	12	8
Northern Shoveler		4		25	2
Northern Pintail			2	3
Green-winged Teal	1	12	25	12
Surf Scoter			13	15
Bufflehead		8	4	2	2
Hooded Merganser		4
Red-brstd Merganser	25	25	4	2	2
Ruddy Duck	36	42	38	35	30	4
Red-throated Loon		3		1	3
Pacific Loon		6	1	3
Common Loon		1		1	5
Pied-billed Grebe	1	8	2	1	2
Horned Grebe	2	4	2	1	1	1
Eared Grebe	8	12	3			1
Western Grebe	12	2	5	15	12	2
Brandt’s Cormorant	2	130		1	4
Dble-crstd Cormorant	9	120	35	50	45	16
Pelagic Cormorant			1	1		1
Brown Pelican	32	95	50	28	27	1490
Great Blue Heron	4	3	2	2	1	2
Great Egret	4	4		2	10	5
Snowy Egret	20	18	16	26	12	12
Cattle Egret					1
Osprey		1	1	1		1
White-tailed Kite		1
Red-shouldered Hawk		1	1
Red-tailed Hawk	1	1		1
American Coot	100	135	88	145	45
American Avocet				1
Blk-bellied Plover	45	38	62	85	6	1
Snowy Plover	40	25	29
Semipalmated Plover						9
Killdeer	1	17	12	12	3	2
Spotted Sandpiper	2	6	3	3	2	1
Greater Yellowlegs		1
Willet	4	10	4	3	3	1
Whimbrel	1	1	4	4	10	12
Long-billed Curlew				1
Marbled Godwit	3	12	12	10	8	2
Ruddy Turnstone	6	6	5		1
Surfbird					4
Sanderling	32	28	8
Dunlin						1
Least Sandpiper	1					15
Western Sandpiper						45
Boneparte’s Gull	2	1			12	6
Heermann’s Gull	1	18	17	1	6	350
Ring-billed Gull	60	65	150	90	3	30
Western Gull	81	230	170	95	3	110
California Gull		1500	1650	1600	40	600
Herring Gull			1
Glaucous-wingd Gull		3	5	4		1
Caspian Tern						10
Forster’s Tern	3					2
Royal Tern		22	42	35	15	4
Elegant Tern	4				28	3100
Rock Pigeon		6	4	5	23	8
Mourning Dove			3	2	2	2
Anna’s Hummingbird			1		1	2
Allen’s Hummingbird		4	2	3	6	4
Belted Kingfisher	1					1
American Kestrel	1				1
Peregrine Falcon		1
Black Phoebe	1	2	1	2	2	2
Say’s Phoebe	2		1
American Crow		8	4	6	5	6
Common Raven				2
Rough-wingd Swallow					4	4
Barn Swallow					2	6
Cliff Swallow						2
Oak Titmouse			1	1
Bushtit					14
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher			1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet		2
Hermit Thrush				2
American Robin					1
Northern Mockingbird		2	1	1	3	6
European Starling	60	25	45	3	4	10
Cedar Waxwing						40
Common Yellowthroat	2	4	3	3	2
Yellow Warbler	1
Yellow-rumpd Warbler	2	15	7	8	5
Townsend’s Warbler			1
California Towhee				1	3	2
Savannah Sparrow		3
Song Sparrow		3	2	6	9	6
White-crwnd Sparrow		35	4	12	10
Western Meadowlark	7	14	24	10	3
Great-tailed Grackle	1		5	4		4
Brwn-headed Cowbird					4	4
House Finch			4		4	12
Lesser Goldfinch		1	2		1
Totals by Type	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr
Waterfowl	64	141	138	154	50	55
Water Birds – Other	166	516	187	247	144	1511
Herons, Egrets & Ibis	28	25	18	30	24	19
Quail & Raptors	2	5	2	2	1	1
Shorebirds	135	144	139	119	37	89
Gulls & Terns	151	1839	2035	1825	107	4213
Doves	0	6	7	7	25	10
Other Non-Passerines	1	4	3	3	7	7
Passerines	76	114	106	61	76	104
Totals Birds	623	2794	2635	2448	471	6009
Total Species	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr
Waterfowl	4	9	9	10	7	5
Water Birds – Other	8	11	9	11	9	6
Herons, Egrets & Ibis	3	3	2	3	4	3
Quail & Raptors	2	5	2	2	1	1
Shorebirds	10	10	9	8	8	10
Gulls & Terns	6	7	7	6	7	10
Doves	0	1	2	2	2	2
Other Non-Passerines	1	1	2	1	2	3
Passerines	8	12	16	14	17	13
Totals Species – 97	42	59	58	57	57	53

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