Spent an hour at Malibu Lagoon this morning and found a few interesting things. A Yellow-breasted Chat was singing weakly in shrubbery near the "mini dune" just before you reach the beach.
Two Snowy Plovers, not necessarily a pair, were working the sandy beach ridge near the lifeguard tower.
The tide was as low as I'd ever seen it, and pelicans, gulls and dozens of (mainly Elegant) terns were roosting far out on the rocks/tidepools. A pair of Elegant Terns were engaged in courtship behavior (bringing fish). A Cattle Egret sailed in from the ocean and landed next to the pelican flock off the beach. A single (calling) Least Tern came down to land near the beach near the lifeguard tower but I was too far away to see where.
The lagoon was pretty quiet, as we're between major migration periods, so a Spotted Sandpiper was the only sandpiper here, with small #s of Sanderlings along the beach and on the rocks. Otherwise, two Black-bellied Plovers and a Black Turnstone rounded out the shorebirds. Three female Red-breasted Mergansers were loafing in the lagoon, maybe for the summer?
Great Egrets were again nesting in the (heavily-pruned) trees of Malibu Country Mart, with maybe 5 active nests visible as I drove past.
The new expanded parking lot and plantings has really changed the feel of the northern part of the park, with a lot more open space, less planted saltbush, etc.
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