Birds
Newport Bay is one of the top birding sites in the United States, as there are over 200 bird species that have made their homes here. Visiting the Back Bay will showcase the immense diversity of the bird inhabitants. The Back Bay is a vital area in the migration process; it serves as a sort of rest stop for birds migrating from Alaska or Canada. Some examples of birds that can be seen in the Back Bay are the light-footed clapper rail (Rallus longirostris levipes), the California least tern (Sterna antillarum browni), the Belding's savannah sparrow (Passerculus sandwichensis beldingi), and the Least Bell's vireo (Vireo bellii pusillus). All of these birds are considered endangered, on both the federal and the state levels.The bluffs surrounding the bay are also home to three sensitive species, the California Gnatcatcher, San Diego Cactus Wren, and Burrowing Owl.
Read more about this topic: Newport Back Bay
Famous quotes containing the word birds:
“In almost all climes the tortoise and the frog are among the precursors and heralds of this season, and birds fly with song and glancing plumage, and plants spring and bloom, and winds blow, to correct this slight oscillation of the poles and preserve the equilibrium of nature.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“She does the work about the house
As well as most, but like a mouse:
Happy enough to chat and play
With birds and rabbits and such as they,
So long as men-folk keep away.”
—Charlotte Mew (1870–1928)
“Yet this aboundant issue seem’d to me,
But hope of Orphans, and un-fathered fruite,
For sommer and his pleasures waite on thee,
And thou away, the very birds are mute.
Or if they sing, tis with so dull a cheere.
That leaves looke pale, dreading the winter’s neere.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)