Castaway playing balls collect at the bottom of Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve, Newport Beach, California

This is kind of an unusual one for me but I thought it was interesting. Upper Newport Bay Wildlife Preserve and Ecological Reserve is in the middle of Orange County, southern California. It is a very large area of wilderness in the middle of one of the country’s most extreme examples of suburban sprawl. The area is essentially an estuary (where salt and fresh water mix) that cuts a path through the landscape forming a bit of a canyon. Bike trails, running paths and playing fields line the upper rim of this canyon, but none seem to lead down into it. In fact, it was quite deserted down there when I left the trails above and headed toward the water in search of wildlife. I saw lots of wading birds like egrets and ducks in the estuary, and then came across all these discarded balls. I assume they all got washed down into the canyon from up above, where all the neighborhood kids play, and came to rest in this spot.