Lake Como Park, Fort Worth
Photos 6 December, 2009

Above: view north from the dam. 

Left: pavilion and pier from main parking area. 

Below: ring-billed gulls on pier railing.

Above: play area, just above the pavilion.

Left and below: paved walking trail through a relative young grove of young cedar elms, going between the pavilion and trail entrance at the north end of the park.  A few bumelia trees and a few bois d'arcs are mixed in with the elms. 

Above (2 photos): top is glossy privet (Ligustrum lucidum); bottom is quihoiu privet (Ligustrum quihoui).  Both are extremely abundant in thickets. 

Above and right: upper end of lake; great egret on brush in shallows at the upper end.

Below: main inlet of water for the lake, at upper end.  The culverts pass under Lake Como Blvd.

Above: paved walking trail from the pavilion toward Merrick Road across the dam. 

Above: view from near dam toward the north end of the lake.  The pendant seed pods are fruits of a catalpa tree. 

Right: massive, deeply furrowed trunk of a cottonwood tree. 

Above and right: pie-billed grebes (Podilymbus podiceps), very common in the lake.  Diving ducks with a Latin name that's fun to say. 

Above: a beautifully shaped juniper on the east bank of the lake. 

Left: steps leading from Merrick Road down to the picnic area on the east bank of the lake.

Below: view southward from the spillway, through the 'undeveloped' part of Lake Como park, toward Ed Collett Park.