San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary birdhouse

The San Joaquin Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary is a

constructed wetland A constructed wetland is an artificial wetland to treat sewage, greywater, stormwater runoff or Industrial wastewater treatment, industrial wastewater. It may also be designed for land reclamation after mining, or as a Flood mitigation, mitigatio ...

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, planned city in central Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was named in 1888 for the landowner James Irvine. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the ...

, in the flood plain of

San Diego Creek San Diego Creek is a urban waterway flowing into Upper Newport Bay in Orange County, California, United States. Its watershed covers in parts of eight cities, including Irvine, Tustin, and Costa Mesa. From its headwaters in Laguna Woods the ...

just above its outlet into the

Upper Newport Bay Upper Newport Bay (connected to Newport Harbor via "The Back Bay") is a large coastal wetland (an estuary) in Newport Beach, California, and a major stopover for birds on the Pacific Flyway. Dozens of species, including endangered ones, can be ...

History

The site is owned by the

Irvine Ranch Water District Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) is a California Special District formed in 1961 and incorporated under the California water code. The IRWD headquarters is located in Irvine, California. IRWD offers the following services: potable water sales ...

; it was used for farmland in the 1950s and 1960s, and (prior to its reconstruction) as a duck hunting range. Restoration of the wetlands began in 1988 and was completed in 2000.. Now, the site serves a dual purpose of removing

nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the chemical formula . salt (chemistry), Salts containing this ion are called nitrates. Nitrates are common components of fertilizers and explosives. Almost all inorganic nitrates are solubility, soluble in wa ...

s from the creek water and providing a bird habitat. The water district also operates an adjacent wastewater treatment facility but the treated wastewater does not enter the wildlife sanctuary..

Description

Within the sanctuary, water from the creek percolates through a system of ponds, constructed in 1997 and ringed with

bulrush Bulrush is a vernacular name for several large wetland graminoid, grass-like plants *Sedge family (Cyperaceae): **''Cyperus'' **''Scirpus'' **''Blysmus'' **''Bolboschoenus'' **''Scirpoides'' **''Isolepis'' **''Schoenoplectus'' **''Trichophorum'' ...

es; the ponds are periodically drained and re-seeded, and the surrounding land is covered with native plants. A small hill at one edge of the site serves as an arboretum for non-native trees, planted for

Earth Day Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally through earthday.org (formerly Earth Day Network) includin ...

in 1990..

Wildlife

The landscaping has been designed to attract birds, and nesting boxes for the birds have been provided. While

waterbirds A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

such as

heron Herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 75 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genus ''Botaurus'' are referred to as bi ...

egret Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build ...

pelican Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before ...

sandpiper Scolopacidae is a large family of shorebirds, or waders, which mainly includes many species known as sandpipers, but also others such as woodcocks, curlews and snipes. Most of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or so ...

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

geese A goose (: geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (black geese). Some members of the Tadorninae subfamily (e.g., Egyp ...

, and

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species living in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

spredominate, monthly censuses have found over 120 species of birds, including terrestrial

hawk Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are very widely distributed and are found on all continents, except Antarctica. The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and others. This ...

swallow The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...

roadrunner The roadrunners (genus ''Geococcyx''), also known as chaparral birds or chaparral cocks, are two species of fast-running ground cuckoos with long tails and crests. They are found in the southwestern and south-central United States, Mexico and C ...

s, and

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...

Public access

The sanctuary is open to the public daily during the daytime,San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary
Sea & Sage Audubon Society, retrieved 2012-09-09. and has over of wheelchair-accessible hiking trails. The facilities also include free parking, restrooms, benches, and trail maps. The Duck Club, a building that was moved to the site in the 1940s and was until 1988 the base for two hunting clubs, serves as a free meeting facility for non-profit organizations.IWRD Duck Club
Irvine Ranch Water District, retrieved 2023-03-29. The

Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such orga ...

maintains a chapter office in another building, the former bunkhouse of the Duck Club.

References

External links

*
Photos from the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary group pool
on

Flickr Flickr ( ) is an image hosting service, image and Online video platform, video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was previously a co ...

{{coord, 33.663, N, 117.844, W, region:US-CA_type:landmark, display=title Constructed wetlands Wetlands of California Protected areas of Orange County, California Geography of Irvine, California Natural history of Orange County, California Landforms of Orange County, California