This is a slightly different kind of photo gallery in that it includes photographs taken on a mumber of visits to Upper Newport Bay in the summer of 2002, the fall of 2004 and 2006, and the spring of 2010. The California Fish and Wildlife Department says: "Upper Newport Bay Ecological Reserve is a 752-acre property consisting of salt marsh, mudflat, and marine habitats. Large mudflats with suitable loafing areas above high tide are extremely desirable for migrating shorebirds and waterfowl. Sheltered waters provide foraging, spawning and nursery habitat for marine fishes." The bay is actually an estuary which is an area where freshwater from the land meets salt water from the sea. A website of Fullerton College Natural Sciences Division adds: "The water environments in Upper Newport Bay are always changing. For example, during a flood tide (when the tide is coming in), sea water pushes into the bay, raises the water level and salinity, and changes the water temperature. During ebb tide, sea water retreats, the water level and salinity are lowered, and water temperature changes again. Tides strongly influence activity in the estuary. Each day, the bay experiences two high tides and two low tides. While sea water is continually moving in and out of the bay, freshwater flow plays an important role too." The main freshwater tributary of Upper Newport Bay is San Diego Creek, which flows past the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary before entering the bay, which like the Ballona Wetlands, the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge, Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve and San Diego Bay is a major stopover for birds on the Pacific Flyway. Regrettably, because it is located so close to roads and developments, there are a lot of non-native plants there as is shown in this gallery.

Yerba mansa
Anemopsis californica
Saururaceae
[Merriam Webster says the common name is a "modification of Mexican Spanish yerba del manso, literally, farmhouse herb"]

Australian saltbush *
Atriplex semibaccata
Chenopodiaceae

Woolly sea-blite
Suaeda taxifolia
Chenopodiaceae

Brazilian pepper *
Schinus terebinthifolius
Anacardiaceae

Brass buttons *
Cotula coronopifolia
Asteraceae

White sweetclover *
Melilotus albus
Fabaceae

Bush sunflower
Encelia californica
Asteraceae
[Named for Christoph Entzelt, 1517-1583]