For the last two weeks, a little bird with big feet has turned a 320-acre marsh in Irvine into one of the hottest birding destinations in Southern California. Hundreds of birdwatchers have flocked to the Irvine Ranch Water District’s San Joaquin Marsh, hoping to catch a glimpse of a juvenile purple gallinule. It’s the first documented sighting of the rare bird in Orange County. … What brought the young purple gallinule to the state is up for debate, but it was no surprise it chose one of the largest coastal wetlands in Southern California. The marsh was built in the 1990s to naturally clean dry-weather urban runoff from San Diego Creek and address the algae blooms that once existed in Upper Newport Bay, according to the water district’s website.

Other wetland news:

• Bay Nature (Berkeley, Calif.): Select sea otters are snacking on seabirds in Elkhorn Slough