NATURAL PERSPECTIVES:

It’s hard to believe that it’s January. The weather has been gorgeous. Thanks to Santa Ana conditions, Vic and I enjoyed sunny skies, balmy breezes and crystal-sharp views of Catalina and the snow-capped San Bernardino Mountains this weekend.

Vic and I went to the Bolsa Chica wetlands several times to see the phenomenally high and low tides. The 7.2-foot high tides Saturday and Sunday morning didn’t quite top the dirt berm between the Warner channel and the restored cells near Warner Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway, but the water came within a couple of inches. Rainfall from a winter storm would have easily put the water over the top, but both days were sunny.

The minus 1.9-foot low tides were spectacular as well, with great views of the mudflats in the ecological reserve. Vic and I were surprised at all the shells of jackknife clams that were exposed in the channel. We wondered if they have always been there and we just never noticed them before, or if there has been a recent kill of jackknife clams that caused the accumulation.

Saturday was so beautiful that we walked all the way around Inner Bolsa Bay, pausing to enjoy two of the three new overlooks to look at the full tidal basin. Even though that basin was opened to full tidal flushing in August 2006, I still can’t get used to the fact that it’s there. We fought for so long to save that part of Bolsa Chica from being turned into housing and a marina that it still doesn’t seem real that it has been restored and is part of the ecological reserve.

It seems real enough to the birds though. Ducks, grebes, shorebirds, cormorants, pelicans, gulls and terns all use the newly restored area. The rough tractor tread marks left by vehicles during restoration are long gone and the mudflats now look natural. The mudflats are full of worms, clams, crabs and other invertebrates, and birds by the thousands feed on the newly spread feast.

Amid the throngs of commonly seen birds, there are always rarities at Bolsa Chica. Some of the avian oddities that were reported this weekend at Bolsa Chica included red knot, merlin, American bittern, greater scaup and reddish egret. We also had heard reports of a white-winged scoter there, and we wanted to see it. Scoters are funny-looking sea ducks with honking big bills that they use to squeeze open mussels and other shellfish. The most commonly seen scoter at Bolsa Chica is the surf scoter. White-winged scoters are spotted at Bolsa Chica far less often. They breed in Alaska and western Canada, and winter on the Great Lakes and off both coasts without usually getting this far south.

Vic and I found the white-winged scoter hanging out with some scaups, most of which were lesser scaups. Lesser scaups are diving sea ducks that are common at Bolsa Chica. However, there were a couple greater scaups with them, another fairly rare species.

As we were walking back to the south parking lot along the dune side of the trail, Vic spotted an American bittern in the salt marsh. It was frozen in its typical head-up stance, a posture that allows it to blend in perfectly with reeds. I noticed that it was looking intently at two birds flying overhead, tracking their progress with its eyes. Vic said that the birds were merlins, which are small hawks. The two merlins interacted with each other in an aerial display that could have been courtship or combat.

We found the reddish egret on the mudflats near the Bolsa Chica Interpretive Building at Warner Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway. There often are one or two of them in Orange County during the winter months, although their normal winter range is Florida to Texas. These birds have an unusual behavior called canopy feeding. Reddish egrets hold their wings out and forward in a posture called mantling while dancing in shallow water. The wings cast a shadow, which some say attracts small fish. The dancing must keep the fish in motion, which makes it easier for the bird to see and catch them.

On our walk around the new trail system that was installed during the 2006 restoration process, Vic and I noted some serious erosion occurring. Unfortunately, the large lookout points are being severely eroded by rain even though the trails are only two and a half years old.

There are two problems with these lookout points. First, the clay cap isn’t holding up. Eroded gullies are already over a foot deep in some places. Second, the ground is too saline to support plant life. Several attempts at hydroseeding and installing plants have failed. The ground is just too salty for anything to grow. And without plants, the soil is just going to continue to erode.

It is imperative that the Department of Fish and Game maintain the integrity of the slopes. But the department never has enough money to do any sort of maintenance, it seems. In the current state budget crisis, it is unlikely that anything will be done to forestall further erosion. So when you’re walking at Bolsa Chica, watch your step. There are some pretty big gullies forming along the trail system.

We weren’t the only ones enjoying Bolsa Chica. The parking lot was overflowing and the trails were packed. We hope that you got out to enjoy the spectacular sights.

VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and environmentalists. They can be reached at vicleipzig@aol.com.