Back to Bolsa Chica

When I visited Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Southern California a few months ago, it felt like coming home. I had spent much of my childhood living nearby and had gone there frequently—long before it was set aside as an ecological reserve. Back then I went as a trespasser, sneaking through the oil fields and the gun club property to get a look at all the birds and later to photograph them. At the time, I figured the place wouldn’t be there much longer. 

You see the 1960s and ‘70s were a time of massive development in California, when many amazing natural areas, teeming with birds and other wildlife, were bulldozed away to make room for housing projects, shopping malls, and industrial parks, and it looked like the Bolsa Chica wetlands faced a similar fate. A developer had already drawn up plans to build more than 5,000 homes and a marina there. But fortunately for Bolsa Chica, environmental awareness was increasing and a backlash began forming against the kind of rampant development going on throughout Southern California—especially in sensitive coastal areas.

After state officials objected to the scale of the housing project, the developer agreed to set aside some 300 acres as an ecological reserve. But local environmentalists wanted to preserve more. In 1976, they launched a group called Amigos de Bolsa Chica to lobby on behalf of this vital coastal wetland. What the Amigos and two later groups—the Bolsa Chica Conservancy (founded in 1990) and the Bolsa Chica Land Trust (founded in 1992)—have accomplished is absolutely phenomenal. The ecological reserve is now more than 1,500 acres in size, with three miles of trails, a bridge, and a nature center, and it includes upland habitat in addition to the wetlands. The natural flow of seawater in and out of the marsh (which had been blocked since 1900) has been restored in much of the reserve. But much more remains to be done, removing physical structures and contaminants left behind from oil-extraction, planting native vegetation, removing exotic plants, and more. It’s an ongoing process that will probably never end, and I’m so glad about that.

It was so great to be at Bolsa Chica again—great to stand at the side of this remarkable wetland, snapping away with my camera as so many amazing birds went about their business, foraging or interacting with each other. Waterfowl abounded. From the low boardwalk/bridge that extends a couple of hundred yards across the saltmarsh, I saw Surf Scoters diving for food, coming up with clams clamped in their huge bills again and again as I stood barely 30 feet away. Other waterfowl I photographed included Northern Pintails, American Wigeon, Bufflehead, Ruddy Ducks, Red-breasted Mergansers, and Blue-winged Teal. I also took several close-ups of a Ridgway’s Rail (formerly considered a race of Clapper Rail but recently split). At low tide, the place teemed with shorebirds—Marbled Godwits, Long-billed Curlews, Willets, Western Sandpipers, dowitchers, and so much more. Forster’s Terns hovered above the spillway later, as the tide rushed in, diving repeatedly and usually coming up with tiny fish in their bills. 

What impressed me most about Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve is that it shows how much can be accomplished by a determined group of people who want to make a difference. It is a remarkable example of how to make a place people-friendly without having an impact on the local wildlife and the habitats on which they depend—a place people can visit with their children and help develop an appreciation of wildlife and natural habitats in the next generation. Watching nature shows on television or a computer is just no substitute for hiking through an area like Bolsa Chica and seeing wildlife up-close on its home turf. It is an absolute treasure for California and the nation.

Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve is well worth visiting if you’re anywhere near Huntington Beach, California. It has two entrances, one on Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and the other around the corner from PCH on Warner Avenue. Parking is free and both have portable restroom facilities. For bird photography, I much prefer the PCH entrance, where you can step immediately onto the long, low boardwalk/bridge that will take you across Bolsa Chica’s inner bay on a long loop trail. (The bridge is one of the most productive spots for photography in the entire reserve.) Before you even leave the parking lot, you can sometimes get pictures of the endangered “Belding’s” race of Savanna Sparrow and other interesting birds. But the Warner Avenue entrance is great, too because you can visit the Bolsa Chica Conservancy Interpretive Center and hike along the bluffs overlooking the outer bay on the Mesa Trail.

I visited Bolsa Chica in late winter, which was a great time to see high numbers of waterfowl and shorebirds, but any time of year can be interesting there. Be sure to pick up a tide chart at a local bait store or look up the tides online. Low-tide is good for watching shorebirds on the mudflats, but I like to be there when the tide is rising, bringing in small fish and other food items for foraging birds. Here’s a link to a useful Bolsa Chica Conservancy bird checklist, showing the times of year when each of the species listed are most common: https://bolsachica.org/birds-checklist/