HUNTINGTON BEACH : Tours of Bolsa Chica Scheduled Saturday

The environmental group Amigos de Bolsa Chica is sponsoring free guided tours Saturday of the Bolsa Chica state ecological reserve, north of Pacific Coast Highway between Golden West Street and Warner Avenue.

The tours will start at the reserve’s parking lot, and groups will depart every 20 minutes from 9 to 10:30 a.m.

“Trained docents will help identify birds and relate the history of the area,” said Lorraine Faber, a spokeswoman for Amigos de Bolsa Chica, a group spawned more than a decade ago to battle for preservation of area wetlands. “There will be a biology station where aquatic and plant life will be explored,” Faber said.

Visitors will be able to see many of the migrating birds that have stopped at the reserve.

“Wintering birds have been arriving in large numbers,” Faber said. “The brown pelicans abound, along with great blue herons, the large common egret, and its little cousin, the snowy egret. There are many species of ducks and grebes to be seen.”