Despite the oft-predicted and much-vaunted “End of the World” and/or “Day of Judgment”, Saturday, May 21 was no more noteworthy than usual for a Saturday in May, or for a Day of Judgment, for that matter. I think there’s been several dozen such days in the past 150 years, and so far…well, I hope none of you were surprised or disappointed by the lack of events. My absence caused a momentary riffle of consternation that I’d been raptured, an unlikely event under any scenario, but actually we were at the Grand Canyon, which is close enough to rapture for me. We saw a condor there, #246, very low overhead, much to our delight.

As a result, on Sunday, May 22, the coast was clear for some good ol’ Malibu Lagoon birding, led by the able and energetic Lucian, who supplied this report. Fourteen friendly people attended including a few new faces. Apparently Spring migration is almost complete, with few seasonal birds in attendance. The general species count was low, as were the number of beach people. There weren’t even many surfers. The outlet is currently a well-behaved stream, exiting far to the east near the lifeguard tower closest to the pier, but not endangering the riprap wall of the Adamson House. The beach berm is vegetated mostly with Sea Rocket and the sand mound is high and at least 100 feet deep. The Snowy Plover virtual fencing has been removed and – as last month – we saw no Snowies.

Brown Pelican adult and sub-adult (C.Almdale)

Gull count was extremely low; the Brown Pelicans were down to a more typical number. The most surprising sighting, surprisingly enough, was 7 Great-tailed Grackles. This species has been present at the lagoon 65 times since they first showed up in April 1995 and, except for 25 birds on 8/27/06, we’ve never seen more than 6 at a time. [OK, OK, 1 more than 6 doesn’t amount to much more, I admit.]

After birding the marsh and the beach for about two hours, a few hardy souls drive up to the Pepperdine reclamation ponds, but no new species were found.

As a reminder to those who plan to come to our 10 a.m. Parent’s & Kids birdwalk, they meet at the beach trail footbridge closest to the parking lot.

Check out our new blog page created especially for Unusual Birds at Malibu Lagoon, the permanent location for pictures of our uncommon birds. Look for other new pages coming in the future. For prior period bird lists, follow these links to July-Dec ’10, Jan-June ’10, Jul-Dec ‘09, and Jan-June ‘09.  For an aerial photo of the lagoon (9/23/02), go here.   [Lucien Plauzoles & Chuck Almdale]