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Check out the shore birds at Orange County's Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve

Long ago, extensive saltwater and freshwater marshes lined Orange County's coast between Seal Beach and Newport Beach. The sandy beaches along that coast remain, but most of the wetlands succumbed to the 20th-century tide of housing, industry, and oil exploration. Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, 530 acres of partially restored wetlands managed by the California Department of Fish and Game, escaped that fate, but not completely. Don't let the noisy coast highway and creaking oil rocker pumps in the reserve put you off; opportunities for bird watching are excellent. Remember to bring along binoculars, a spotting scope, a camera -- or all of the above.

You can get access to the reserve by way of a 1.5-mile-long public hiking path that starts at a small parking lot opposite the main entrance to Bolsa Chica State Beach. This is on the Pacific Coast Highway 1.5 miles south of Warner Avenue, or 2.5 miles north of Golden West Street.

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From the parking lot, a long wooden bridge leads over some shallow stretches of tidewater invaded by typical saltwater marsh plants: cordgrass, alkali heath, sea lavender, and pickleweed. Interpretive panels tell of two endangered species of birds that frequent this area: the least tern, which nests on two small, sandy islands nearby; and the Belding's savannah sparrow, a bird that can drink seawater, processing it with hyperefficient kidneys.

On the far side of the bridge a path goes left atop a levee, eventually encircling a segment of the slough. On the surface and the shoreline you may spot gulls, terns, egrets, cormorants, pelicans, stilts, plovers, avocets, grebes, marsh hawks, herons, and kites. The number and diversity of birds vary with the season.

At the west end of the path, you swing around a tidegate admitting saltwater to the marsh from Anaheim Bay to the north. From this juncture you can walk up to a scenic viewpoint on the lip of a nearby mesa-like terrace. Gabrieleño Indians contemplated a far different scene here prior to about 200 years ago: they beheld a broad, shallow bay extending well inland, rimmed by salt- and freshwater marshes as far as the eye could see.

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Long ago, extensive saltwater and freshwater marshes lined Orange County's coast between Seal Beach and Newport Beach. The sandy beaches along that coast remain, but most of the wetlands succumbed to the 20th-century tide of housing, industry, and oil exploration. Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, 530 acres of partially restored wetlands managed by the California Department of Fish and Game, escaped that fate, but not completely. Don't let the noisy coast highway and creaking oil rocker pumps in the reserve put you off; opportunities for bird watching are excellent. Remember to bring along binoculars, a spotting scope, a camera -- or all of the above.

You can get access to the reserve by way of a 1.5-mile-long public hiking path that starts at a small parking lot opposite the main entrance to Bolsa Chica State Beach. This is on the Pacific Coast Highway 1.5 miles south of Warner Avenue, or 2.5 miles north of Golden West Street.

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From the parking lot, a long wooden bridge leads over some shallow stretches of tidewater invaded by typical saltwater marsh plants: cordgrass, alkali heath, sea lavender, and pickleweed. Interpretive panels tell of two endangered species of birds that frequent this area: the least tern, which nests on two small, sandy islands nearby; and the Belding's savannah sparrow, a bird that can drink seawater, processing it with hyperefficient kidneys.

On the far side of the bridge a path goes left atop a levee, eventually encircling a segment of the slough. On the surface and the shoreline you may spot gulls, terns, egrets, cormorants, pelicans, stilts, plovers, avocets, grebes, marsh hawks, herons, and kites. The number and diversity of birds vary with the season.

At the west end of the path, you swing around a tidegate admitting saltwater to the marsh from Anaheim Bay to the north. From this juncture you can walk up to a scenic viewpoint on the lip of a nearby mesa-like terrace. Gabrieleño Indians contemplated a far different scene here prior to about 200 years ago: they beheld a broad, shallow bay extending well inland, rimmed by salt- and freshwater marshes as far as the eye could see.

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4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
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