Rare bird draws flocks of Southern California birders to this Irvine marsh to get a glimpse

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Set us as preferred For the last two weeks, a little bird with big feet has turned a 320-acre marsh in Irvine into one of the hottest birding destinations in Southern California.Hundreds of birdwatchers have flocked to the Irvine Ranch Water District’s San Joaquin Marsh, hoping to catch a glimpse of a juvenile purple gallinule.It’s the first documented sighting of the rare bird in Orange County and the eighth in California since 1961.The sighting still needs to be accepted by the California Bird Records Committee, which reviews and confirms rare bird sightings in the state.The swamp hen, known by its scientific name, Porphyrio martinica, is mostly found along the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean as well as parts of South America.

The bird, however, is known to wander past its range and has been spotted as far as Iceland, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a research and conservation institute.Last year, an adult purple gallinule was spotted some 600 miles north at the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary in Humboldt County, state records show.It’s the state’s northernmost sighting to date, according to state records.This is not the first bird sighting to spark a frenzy in Southern California.

Three years ago, an Arctic owl captivated residents in Cypress after arriving around the Christmas holiday in 2022 before it left the next month.An adult purple gallinule has a bright purple and green body with a pale blue marking that resembles a shield above its red and yellow bill.Meanwhile, juveniles are pale brown with tints of bronze-green on the wings and back.The bird, which feeds on vegetation and insects, has long, bright yellow legs and toes that it uses to gracefully make its way through the wetland.Ian Swift, natural resources manager at the Irvine Ranch Water District, said the bird was spotted about two weeks...