While no human but an informed researcher would look at this patch of forest twice (except perhaps ruefully upon losing a golf ball in the muck), it remains a small haven for Blanding's turtles and the other creatures that have moved in with them: spotted turtles, ribbon snakes, muskrats, and birds such as the red-winged blackbird and cedar waxwing.

That group counted more than 35 different species including the Cedar Waxwing, a stout, buff-colored bird with a black mask.

Just last Thanksgiving, a flock of about 60 cedar waxwing songbirds got stuck in one of Hancock Park's asphalt seeps.