Near our house there is a large development called Playa Vista. It has fought its way through numerous lawsuits, oppositions, Dreamworks pulling out, etc. Part of the deal for building on the site was that the developer would restore and maintain wetlands in the area. This post is about the restored area west of Lincoln Boulevard and south of Jefferson Boulevard.

Before the restoration, this area was flat and grassy, not interesting. I watched as they built smoothed channels and berms. It looked very manufactured. Trees and shrubs were planted, water was let in. It began to look better.

A couple of weeks ago, there was an event at these new, manufactured, wetlands. Many groups, from the DWP to the Ballona Creek Renaissance were there. It was great fun and what made it great was the wildlife we could see in the wetlands. Yes, the manufactured wetlands.

Last weekend, we went for a walk in the wetlands area. At the start, my wife didn’t want the binoculars, and my daughter thought it would be boring (although she knew better than to complain). It turned out to be a great experience. We saw red winged blackbirds, American coots, a killdeer, and best of all, a family of mallards.

The mallard family was a mother and seven ducklings. We watched as the swam along the shore feeding. Mother mallard decided she wanted to look at an area beyond a small man-made berm. She jumped over, but it was a challenge for the ducklings. We watched as she went back and encouraged them to jump over the berm. And then she went back. Watching these little ducklings, not too much larger than an egg and very fluffing, was tremendous fun. It made the whole visit.

And all just about a mile from our house.