Coastal Environments

Table of
Contents:

Coastal/Wetland Environments:
Sepulveda Basin and Malibu Lagoon

Stop 1-Sepulveda Wildlife Reserve (SWR)

This area surrounds a retention dam for the Los Angeles River. It was created by the Army Corps of Engineers, and incorporates the water from the Tillman Water Treatment Plant. The wildlife management area was constructed along Haskell Creek following consultations with Prof. Walter and others in 1978. (view a map of the Sepulveda Basin Master Plan(2 pages) -.pdf)
Haskell Creek is lined with willows, which, in this flood area, act as a dike to the floodwaters. This could be dangerous for the small, endangered fish, the unarmed 3-spined stickleback, which inhabits the creek. The wildlife area encompasses a large pond that has islands and reeds. Access to the pond is via a gravel path and pets are restricted. We saw many fish and waterfowl, including a young Canada gosling, and male Ruddy ducks performing a mating display. There were many songbirds in the trees around the pond. The most eye-catching was a Bullock’s oriole that had an orange to yellow colored head and black wings.	Fledling Black-crowned Night Heron
There were many local residents enjoying the open space and amenities. Open grassy areas had a few scattered mature trees, and provided picnic and game sites. There was a path along the top of the gravel dam, and some weedy vegetation was left uncut on the slope of the dam. We noted some of the native vegetation: Mule fat, coyote brush, cottonwoods and willows. We noted evidence of a small, recent fire. An exotic cork oak from the Mediterranean was one of the largest and most impressive trees on the landscape.

Stop 2-Balboa Lake

Balboa Lake was across the street and up-river on the Los Angeles River. This area is still a part of the Sepulveda Badin Management Plan. This “lake” looked and was much more artificial that the pond in the wildlife area. There was no vegetation in the water and the edge was concrete. The whole scene was different here. The dominant feature of the landscape is the shallow (4-6 ft) pond; next, a state-of-the-art playground. The few trees are all non-native and very young. Paved paths made travel by skate or stroller easy, and many visitors had pets.
The pavilions with picnic tables were quickly filling up and the popularity of this regional park on a weekend was clear. Ducks scuttled across the path in front of styled poodles. The ducks had seen this before. Even with this unnatural environment, we saw a lot of birds. There were many ducks, pigeons, gulls and cowbirds. We also noted one western sandpiper, a shorebird, poking in the mud of a puddle near the lake edge. The diversity of birds here was much lower compared to the diversity of birds at the wildlife pond; but there were more individuals at Balboa Lake.

Student Bird List Sepulveda Basin. April 26, 2003. G163
Common Name	SWR	BL
Northern Mockingbird	1
American Crow	1	1
Bushtit	1
White-throated Swift	1	1
Song Sparrow	1
California Towhee	1
Mourning Dove	1
Great-tailed Grackle	1	1
House Finch	1
Turkey Vulture	1
Yellow-rumped Warbler	1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow	1
Western Sandpiper		1
Cliff Swallow	1	1
Common Yellow-throat	1
Brown-headed Cowbird		1
Pied-billed Grebe	1	1
Rock Dove		1
Gull		1
Canadian Goose	1	1
Red-winged Blackbird	1
Bank Swallow	1
Mallard	1	1
American Coot	1	1
Ruddy Duck	1
Total Individuals	21	12
Total = 25 species

Stop 3 - Malibu Lagoon

Point Count- Introduction

We conducted point counts in three habitats at the Malibu Lagoon State Park on April 26,2003. Malibu Lagoon State Beach has a marsh area that is crossed by three bridges as you walk on the trail from the parking lot toward the beach. The marsh area has flooded areas during high tide and exposed mudflats during low tide. The beach area encompasses the mouth of Malibu Creek out to the sandy area where the breakers are coming in. A patch of woody vegetation is located between the lagoon, the road, and the parking area.

Methods
Point counts are a quick method to determine the abundance and species richness of the avian community. Normally these are conducted early in the morning and with a minimum of talking. Due to timing constraints these point counts were conducted in the afternoon and observers discussed the identifying marks and behaviors. In addition, observers did not stay in one location but instead moved slowly through the habitat type to seek out all species using a habitat.
Results
I counted a total of 980 birds of 19 species in three habitats at the Malibu Lagoon. The beach also had the greatest number of species (9), called species richness. Both the marsh and the woody area had similar numbers of individuals (13 and 14 respectively) but the marsh had twice as many species (8) as the woody area (4). Results of the point counts are presented below. (Table 2)
Discussion
Anna’s hummingbird is the only species that was observed in more than one habitat type. Most of the individuals were observed at the beach site, which was dominated by elegant terns and gulls. These species could be seen from the other point count stations but they did not leave the beach area so they were not counted elsewhere. It should be noted that the calls of the terns were so loud and frequent that they may have interfered with observer’s ability to hear and see other species.
Conclusion
The rich species diversity of this area signifies the importance of the coastal areas for wildlife. During low tide, many shorebirds and seabirds converge on the shore to forage and find mates or nest sites. The variety of habitats increases the biodiversity of the area and where these areas occur, it is important to preserve natural processes and landscapes.

Avian species richness and abundance in three habitats at the
Malibu Lagoon State Beach, 26, April 2003.

Common Name	*Latin Name*	Point Beach	Point Marsh	Point Upland
Western Sandpiper	Calidris minutilla		3
Killdeer	Charadrius vociferus		3
European House Sparrow	Passer domesticus		2
Spotted Towhee	Pipilo maculatus		1
Snowy Egret	Egretta thula		1
Song Sparrow	Melospiza melodia		1
Anna's Hummingbird	Calypte anna		1	1
House Finch	Caprodacus mexicanus		1
California Gull	Larus californicus	20
Heerman's Gull	Larus heermanni	3
Western Gull	Larus occidentalis	100
Caspian Tern	Sterna caspia	1
Elegant Tern	Sterna elegans	700
Brown Pelican	Pelecanus occidentalis	120
Double-crested Cormorant	Phalacrocorax auritus	6
Great Blue Heron	Ardea herodias	1
Gadwall	Anas strepera	2
Wrentit	Chamaea fasciata			1
Cliff Swallow	Hirundo pyrrhonota			10
Swan Geese	? Domestic cross ?			2
Total individuals (abundance)	(Overall = 980)	953	13	14
Species Counts (richness)	(Overall = 19)	9	8	4

Last updated: April 12, 2004.