Date: 8/10/25 10:55 pm From: Naresh Satyan via groups.io <naresh.satyan...> Subject: [LACoBirds] 2025 LA River Fall Shorebird Survey: Day 1 results
Hi all,
Obviously the main shorebird attraction of the day was the Bar-tailed Godwit in Playa del Rey, but today was also the first of three surveys of shorebirds in the Los Angeles river planned for this fall. This is the third year of the survey in its current form. Many thanks to all the birders who contributed their time and effort this morning -- I'm sure some would rather have been birding along Ballona creek instead, but we covered most of the river.
Going upstream from the river mouth, coverage was as follows. In Long Beach, Jeff Boyd surveyed between Golden Shore and Willow St, Jon Fisher counted from Willow St to Wardlow Rd, and Lance Benner from Wardlow to Alondra Blvd. Dick Barth surveyed the river in the Paramount area from Alondra to Rosecrans. In the South Gate-Maywood area, Mark and Janet Scheel from Florence Ave to Atlantic Blvd. Andy Birch surveyed all locations with good shorebird habitat from the 110/5 Fwy intersection up to Glendale Narrows. Naresh Satyan surveyed the Sepulveda basin dam area and Buena Vista Park in Burbank. Except for a stretch of the river in South Gate (which has had no shorebirds yet on previous visits this year anyway), we effectively looked at every part of the river that has any shorebird habitat.
It was a pleasant morning, with temperatures ranging from 63 to 73 degrees F. There was a marine layer over much of the river for most of the morning, and there was very little wind. It was a low flood tide at the river mouth in Long Beach. Water levels in the river were very high throughout the survey area, with strong flow in the central channel.
Early August numbers of shorebirds continued to be extremely low for the third consecutive year. We somehow managed to have even fewer Western Sandpipers in 2025 (only 21 birds) compared to August 11, 2024 (76) and August 12, 2023 (290). The count of 6826 Western Sandpipers on the lower LA river by Dan Cooper et al on August 16, 2000 is now a distant memory. There were also no uncommon birds today.
Hopefully shorebird numbers will increase later in the year. There will be two follow-up surveys this fall, on August 30 and September 20.
Regards, Naresh
-- Naresh Satyan Pasadena, CA Los Angeles Birders -- www.labirders.org
