Bird Rock, San Diego

Coordinates: 32°48′40″N 117°16′0″W / 32.81111°N 117.26667°W / 32.81111; -117.26667

Bird Rock is a seaside neighborhood within the larger community of La Jolla in San Diego, California. It lies on the Pacific Ocean at the southernmost end of La Jolla, just north of Pacific Beach. The mostly residential neighborhood includes homes for 1,400 to 1,500 families, with a commercial district along the main street, La Jolla Boulevard. The shore is rocky and has no beach, but offshore reefs are used for surfing.

History

The neighborhood is named for an offshore rock that was described as having the shape of a bird and is often photographed with brown pelicans or other birds perching on it. The rock formerly included an arch with an opening under it, but the arch was eroded by wave action and finally collapsed in December 2010.

The neighborhood was subdivided by pioneer developer Michael Francis Hall in 1906. He named it Bird Rock City by the Sea.

During World War II the area housed a unit of the Coast Artillery called the Bird Rock Coastal Defense and Anti-Aircraft Training Center. The area was thinly populated until a population explosion in the 1950s. Bird Rock Elementary School opened in 1951.

Bird Rock State Marine Conservation Area and Blue Cavern State Marine Conservation Areas

Bird Rock State Marine Conservation Area and Blue Cavern State Marine Conservation Areas (SMCA) are two contiguous marine protected areas that include offshore, island marine habitat at Catalina Island off California's south coast. The SMCAs covers 7.69 and 2.61 square miles respectively. The SMCAs protect marine life by limiting the removal of marine wildlife from within their borders.

Activities

Bird Rock SMCA prohibits take of all living marine resources except: recreational take of pelagic finfish, including Pacific bonito, by hook-and-line or by spearfishing, white seabass by spearfishing and market squid by hand-held dip net is allowed; commercial take of pelagic finfish by hook-and-line and swordfish by harpoon is allowed.

Blue Cavern SMCA prohibits take of all living marine resources except: take pursuant to maintenance of artificial structures inside the conservation area per any required federal, state and local permits, or as otherwise authorized by the department.

Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve

Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve is an ecological reserve located near Cape St. Mary's on the Cape Shore, on the southwestern Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland.

It is home to one of Newfoundland's largest seabird colonies. The government of Newfoundland and Labrador estimates that the site is home to 24,000 northern gannets, 20,000 black-legged kittiwakes, 20,000 common murres, and 2,000 thick-billed murres, as well as dozens or hundreds of razorbill, and black guillemot breeding pairs. The ocean waters off the reserve also provides winter habitat for harlequin ducks, common eiders, scoters, and long-tailed ducks.

In addition to the numerous birds, humpback whales may be viewed from the heights during the annual capelin run.

The area protected by the reserve also includes sub-Arctic tundra, a mainly treeless plateau bordering the ocean.

Facilities include an interpretive centre, parking and washrooms. A footpath from the centre leads to a viewing location a few hundred metres from "Bird Rock", a large sea stack with several thousand nesting gannets. Other nesting locations can also be viewed from shore.

Bird Rock (Tasmania)

Bird Rock is a small granite island, with an area of about 1 ha, part of the Waterhouse Island Group, lying close to the north-eastern coast of Tasmania, in south-eastern Australia.

Fauna

Recorded breeding seabird species are little penguin, common diving-petrel, Pacific gull and Caspian tern.

Other islands in the Waterhouse Group with breeding seabirds include:

References

Coordinates: 40°55′S 148°19′E / 40.917°S 148.317°E / -40.917; 148.317

Bird Rock (Marin County, California)

Bird Rock is a rock formation and a small Pacific island west of Tomales Point in Marin County, California at 38°13′48″N 122°59′40″W / 38.23000°N 122.99444°W / 38.23000; -122.99444Coordinates: 38°13′48″N 122°59′40″W / 38.23000°N 122.99444°W / 38.23000; -122.99444 Its area is roughly 2 acres (0.8 ha).

A seabird colony, the island is covered with a layer of guano. Cormorants are common on the island, and ashy petrels were found breeding there in 1972.

See also

References

Bird Rock (disambiguation)

Bird Rock may refer to:

Geography

Australia

Canada

Caribbean

United States