Bolsa populations show sign of growth

When the Pacific Ocean flowed into the tidal inlet at the Bolsa Chica wetlands after more than 100 years, biologists didn’t quite expect the bird and fish population to multiply overnight.

But that’s what they are aflutter about now.

“This spring we saw an increase in the number of Belding’s Savannah Sparrows, which surprised me,” Terri Stewart, senior biologist with the Department of Fish and Game, which manages the wetlands, said at a Bolsa Chica town hall forum recently.

Stewart was referring to the increase in the number of the endangered Belding’s Savannah Sparrows.

Usually, once an inlet’s been opened to the ocean, experts expect a little downward spike in the bird population before seeing an increase, and a few years before their number stabilizes, Stewart added. The Bolsa Chica inlet opened a month ago.

The Fish and Game Department does an annual survey during the breeding season that would confirm their observation that the population of birds and marine life species has increased, she said.

Reports about the swelling numbers of birds and fish in the full tidal areas of the Bolsa Chica are anecdotal, but there has been an increase at different areas in the wetlands, said Grace Adams, director of the Bolsa Chica Conservancy.

In the northern section of the wetlands, Adams said they had observed a several egrets and blue herons. “We have also seen kildeer, a wetland bird and also fledging nesting in the area,” she said.

Adams has noted some ospreys hovering around as well as some Cooper’s hawks and black stilts at the northern edge.

They’ve also observed an increase in shore birds and black skimmers in the rest of the newly restored wetlands’ full-tidal areas, Adams said.

“The skimmers in the past were seen in groups of four to five but now are seen in flocks of 10 or 15, up to 20 at a time.”

A similar diversity is reflected in the fish population of the full-tidal pools of the Bolsa Chica, said Bob Hoffman, representative with the National Marine Fisheries Service.

“There are about 10 fish species that are utilizing the system that weren’t before, and that number is probably going to increase to 30 after the first year,” he said.

The marine service will perform its first fish sampling in 2008, two years after the inlet opening to get a “better idea of how many are utilizing the pools,” Hoffman added.

The news is not yet official but it has proved to be gratifying for many environmentalists who fought decades to preserve the wetlands.

“We are very excited about this,” said Marc Stirdivant, Bolsa Chica Land Trust director. “We think it’s going to grow, and it’s a terrific development.”

Nesting areas built in the tidal pools of the Bolsa Chica have helped endangered species such as California least terns, the Elegant and Forrester’s terns breed in their sand habitat, the Conservancy’s Adams said.

“It’s very indicative that the food supply has increased for them, especially with the opening of the full tidal area,” she said.

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