Extra Credit - Upper Newport Bay - Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center

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1 Extra Credit - Upper Newport Bay - Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center The Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center is located at 2301 University Drive, Newport Beach, CA It is at the corner of University and Irvine Avenue. The Center is currently open to the public from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM Tuesday through Sunday. Call (949) for information. Please note that the building is not visible from the street. You will need a camera for this assignment. Take a picture of Upper Newport Bay as seen while while walking to the interpretive center and paste it into this box. Take a picture of yourself in front of the interpretive center and paste it into this box. Name and Roll Number: Class: 1

2 Touch screen near front door Northern Harrier 1. Name a mammal that a northern harrier eats. 2. What does this small mammal eat? 3. Fill in the trophic levels for the northern harrier food chain. Coyote 1. What animals are coyotes related to? 2. Coyotes are omnivores which means that they eat both meat and plants. List 3 things coyotes eat. Great Egret 1. Fill out the trophic levels for the great egret food chain. 2. What is the producer in this food chain? 3. What is the primary consumer in this food chain? Press the box that says "click to see many chains in a food web." 1. What are three things that eat algae in Upper Newport Bay? 2

3 Turkey Vulture 1. How are turkey vultures recognized in flight? 2. What do turkey vultures eat? American Coot 1. The American coot is a member of what family of birds? 2. Where are American coots usually seen? Long-billed Curlew 1. How is this bird recognized? 2. What does it eat in addition to ghost shrimp? 3. What do ghost shrimp feed on? 4. What are diatoms? Touch screen near front door 1. What is an estuary? 2. What problems are associated with storms in Upper Newport Bay? 3

4 Vanishing habitat wall near pelicans 1. What is the primary cause of plant and animal extinction? 2. What percentage of wetlands have disappeared in southern California? 3. What percentage of coastal sage scrub has vanished due to human activity? 4. How much of southern and central California's grasslands remain? Atrium of Flight The three pelicans hanging from the ceiling are brown pelicans. Brown pelicans almost went extinct in California due to the effects of DDT in their tissues. DDT is a pesticide that interferes with calcium metabolism and causes egg shell thinning. Thus when the bird sits on its eggs they crack. Take a photograph of a brown pelican and paste it in the box below. 4

5 Great Blue Heron There is a great blue heron in a plastic case next to the wall by the brown pelicans. Herons and egrets are wading birds with long legs, a long neck, and a sturdy long bill. They stalk prey such as fish and crustaceans in shallow water. Their eyes face forward which allows both eyes to focus on an object at the same time. This is called binocular vision and it is associated with good depth perception which is necessary for them to accurately strike living prey. The great blue heron is the largest heron in North America. It is primarily a "sit and wait" style predator which stands immobile and strikes its prey with its large sharp beak. Approximately how tall is the great blue heron in the plastic case? Hall of flight 1. Look at the large white bird with the yellow bill hanging from the ceiling. It is a great egret. We sometimes see great egrets in the Mt. SAC Wildlife Sanctuary. What is the color of the feet of the great egret? 2. There is a large photo on the wall of Upper Newport Bay. The grass on either side of the water is called cord grass. There is a display in front of the wall that shows a clapper rail nest surrounded by cord grass. The clapper rail attaches its nest to cord grass in a manner that allows it to float up at high tide and then move down as the tide goes out. Take a photograph of the clapper rail that is in the plastic box on top of the nest display and paste it in the box below. The light-footed clapper rail is a federally listed endangered species that is endemic to California. It is well adapted to living in the salt marsh. It has a narrow body to help it move through dense vegetation. It also has long toes keep it from sinking in the mud. Based on questions that you have answered on this worksheet explain why the clapper rail is endangered. 5

6 3. Attached to the wall near the top of the large photo of Upper Newport Bay is a black and white bird with an orange and black bill. It is called a black skimmer. It uses its lower bill to skim the surface of the water to catch fish. How does the lower bill of this bird differ from that of most other birds? _ Working wetlands 1. List 6 major causes of habitat loss. 2. How is a wetland like a strainer? 3. How is a wetland like soap? 4. How is a wetland like an egg beater? 5. How is a wetland like a sponge? 6. How is a wetland like an antacid? 7. How is a wetland like a hotel? 6

7 Plastic display - Life in the water 1. The bird chasing the fish in the display is a double crested cormorant. It is called a pursuit diver because it pursues (chases) fish after diving in the water. (Penguins do this too!). Note the placement of its feet on its body. How does the placement of its feet differ from the birds you might see around Mt. SAC? 2. What is the name of the fish that the double crested cormorant is chasing? 3. What are the fish called that are hiding in the eelgrass? Tunnel of mud 1. Enter the tunnel of mud. Get down on your hands and knees to view the exhibit of the Innkeeper. What is the Innkeeper? Where does it live? Who shares its home? 2. What are the two ways that the bill of the long-billed curlew differs from that of the marbled godwit? _ 3. How do the bills of the least sandpipers differ from the bill of the semipalmated plover? _ 4. Why do the bills of the different species of shorebirds differ in length? 5. Why are there so many birds at the mud flats of estuaries? 6. Why does the mud in estuaries stink? 7. Which habitat in Newport Bay has the most organisms? Wall outside tunnel of mud 1. What kinds of birds hunt at low tide? 2. What kinds of birds hunt at high tide? 7

8 Shorebirds have a variety of bill lengths. This determines the depth they feed below the surface of the mud. This reduces competition between species. (Drawing is from Marine Biology, 9th Edition by Peter Castro and Michael E. Huber, 2013). Migration wall 1. What types of stimuli trigger a bird to migrate? 2. How do birds find their way during migration? 3. Why do birds stop at Upper Newport Bay during migration? Blocks on migration wall 1. How many birds can be found at Upper Newport Bay during winter migration? 2. What is the largest estuary in southern California? 3. How many polychaete worms can be found in one square foot of mud in the bay? Final touches 1. Ask one of the people at the desk to start the short movie. What are three things you learned from the movie? 2. Please take a walk on one of the trails near the interpretive center. Did you see anything interesting on your walk? _ 3. What part of this assignment did you like most? Why? 8

9 Upper Newport Bay at low tide. The mudflats are visible. The mudflats are covered with sea water a majority of the time and lack flowering plants. Algae and cyanobacteria are the only photosynthetic organisms growing here. The green alga Enteromorpha can be seen growing on the mudflats in this photograph. Upper Newport Bay at high tide. The grass that borders the open water of the estuary is cord grass. Cord grass cannot tolerate more than 9 hours of continuous submergence. However it can tolerate being covered with sea water longer than any other flowering plant. It has hollow leaves, stems, and rhizomes. This enables it to get oxygen from the air to its roots and other tissues when they are covered with water. 9