Bartlett Park, Huntington Beach: Small Stuff

I visited Bartlett Park again the other day. To be honest, it's had better days. Despite the recent rain, the water in there is mostly left over from last year's rain, and it's getting a bit scummy-looking. There's still some water primrose growing in places (at least, I'm pretty sure that's what it is; I have not actually climbed down to look), but the stand of reeds in the deepest area has browned, and the receding water has left a lot of dead vegetation. In addition, the park service has mowed recently, leaving the top of the hill bald and desolate looking.

The local fauna, however, was not complaining. There's still at least one duck living down there (and I've never known a duck to actually be alone, so I'm willing to bet there were others in the reeds). There were dozens of dragonflies, all busily darting around just out of camera range, and I saw a couple of Marine Blues, plus a few other sorts of butterfly and moth I couldn't identify. And, of course, there were lizards, lots of lizards, a shiny black wasp, and at least one bird of prey (Kestral?).

Oh, and crows. Definitely there were crows. Probably the big hawk was around somewhere, too, but I didn't head over to its usual territory.