BREAKING NEWS: Fox Sighted on Corralitas

Photo: April 25, 2008, Gary Vlahakis

While walking the dog around 5PM today, I noticed a strange looking cat walking through the lot below 2636 Corralitas. But it wasn't a cat, it's a grey fox. Its body is about a 10 to 12 inches long, with a long puffy tail, grey with red markings on its chest, small head and pointy ears: NOT a coyote. It may have a den in the brush in the middle of the hill. There's a trail that's been worn along the edge of the green bushes, which I saw her walking along, leading to what appears to be a den. I've heard scattered reports of foxes in the Semi-Tropic Spiritualist Neighborhood, but this is the first photo a neighbor snapped. A number of neighbors witnessed it this afternoon.

Update.

Feeding Time

Photos: April 25, 2008, George W. Jones
(Click on photos to enlarge.)


George got incredibly lucky today. While he was shooting photos of the hummingbird baby, the mother flew into frame to feed the baby.

Earlier photos:
April 21, 2008
April 18, 2008
April 17, 2008
April 7, 2008 - Hatchling
March 20, 2008 - Eggs

Adult Feathers at 20 Days

Photo: April 21, 2008, George W. Jones

Now twenty days old, the hummingbird baby is showing quite a few iridescent green feathers and exercising its wings regularly. Compare the photo above with the one taken on April 18.

Many thanks to my neighbor George for for taking such great close-up photos of the hummingbird!

Building Material Detail

Photo: April 17, 2008, George W. Jones. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

My neighbor George got an even better shot of the hummingbird in the nest. It seems the mother is reinforcing the nest with hair and bits of Kleenex. It also looks like the mother has taken nest material from the old nest on an adjacent branch as that nest has been getting smaller as the weeks go by. I've also seen her taking fluffy seeds from one of our succulents for padding. Compare the above photo with the original nest on March 20, 2008.

Feed Me!

Photos: April 17, 2008, Edwardson. 11-day old hummingbird.

Note on photo quality: The close-ups on the hummingbird nest are not so sharp since they were shot with a digital point & shoot camera, while I'm hanging off the side of my neighbor's driveway about 12 feet away from the nest, which is swaying in the wind. No flash was used. See original below.



Earlier photos:
April 2, 2008
March 20, 2008
March 10, 2008

April 1950: Snow in Silver Lake

Photo: April 1950, Smith. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

In 1950, a freak April snowstorm officially covered Los Angels with less than a half inch of snow. The photo above, shot from the backyard of 2647 Corralitas Drive in Silver Lake, suggests something closer to two inches. The local topography and weather patterns routinely double or triple the official precipitation measurement.

If you look closely, Riverside Place is closest row of homes to the backyard. The Red Car trolley tracks run through the middle of the photo, just above Riverside Place. Lake View Ave. is mostly undeveloped, except near the India St. Red Car stop (the clump of homes to the right, just above the tracks). The large power line tower atop the hill (on the left) is on Silver Ridge Ave.

Corralitas Dr. Ugly Rooftop Watch Part 3

Photo: Edwardson, 3-28-08. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

There is no excuse for architects to design new construction without giving thought to where the air conditioner will go. In urban hillside development, someone is almost always looking down on your rooftop. The photo above is shot from the front porch of the house across the street. While owners of older hillside homes may have no other choice of where to put their HVAC, there is no excuse for unscreened rooftop equipment on new construction.

Hummingbird Hatchling

Photo: Edwardson 4-2-08

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