It’s one of the best deals in town. In fact, it’s free!
“It” is the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve located near the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center at 2301 University Dr.
The Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve comprises 135 acres of bluffs and bay, and serves as the “educational and interpretive hub of the larger 1,000-acre Back Bay reserve,” shares Emma Boulter, OC Parks Resource Specialist.
OC Parks manages nearly 60,000 acres of land across Orange County, including the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve, with the goal of “preserving and protecting these areas for generations to come,” Boulter said.
A staff of park rangers, park maintenance workers, a resource specialist, and enthusiastic volunteers provide a safe environment for exploring, hiking, biking, jogging, and even horseback riding, as well as learning about nature and conservation via educational programs and special events.
Helping in preservation efforts is the Newport Bay Conservancy, whose volunteers assist with resource and habitat protection, restoration activities and events programming, Boulter said.
In 2025, approximately 665,000 visitors traipsed the trails of the preserve, or attended a variety of educational programs at the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center, Boulter said.
The lucky and/or patient and observational folks walking the paths are able to spot such wildlife as coyotes, bobcats, raccoons, opossums, California ground squirrels and desert cotton tail rabbits. In terms of endangered or sensitive birdlife, binocular-wielding or telephoto-packing enthusiasts were rewarded with close-ups of rare flyers such as the Ridgeway rail, Belding’s savannah sparrow, and the California least tern.
For those who can control their blinks, they may snatch a glimpse of a diving peregrine falcon, the fastest bird in the world at a recorded 240 miles per hour — a mere 225 mph faster than the posted speed limit on the one-way road that serpentines along the edge of the Upper and Back Bay.
Most of the birds found in the Upper and Back Bay environs are year-round inhabitants; however, the bay is a fluid “motel” for many thousands of feathered friends seeking respite along the Pacific Flyway en route to and from distant regions such as Canada, Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. These seasonal visitors include a variety of waterfowl, shorebirds and unique diving ducks.
Arguably, the most animated show is provided by clouds of hundreds to thousands of aerobatic Western Sandpipers, whose coordinated swooping and swirling may be nature’s forerunner to today’s massive and massively popular drone shows.
A variety of conservation organizations join hands to preserve the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve: Newport Beach Conservancy, OC Parks, Newport Bay Naturalists and Friends, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Irvine Ranch Conservancy.
The Upper and Back Bay is a true gift to Newport Beach, even though it’s for the birds (as well as for nature’s other fascinating and beautiful critters).
