Red Car Property: Red Tailed Hawk Makes A Kill

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 17, 2017.  One of the big Red Tailed Hawks ate  breakfast atop one of its favorite telephone poles on the Red Car Property.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 17, 2017.  Moments earlier, a neighbor and I watched as the hawk launched itself with a couple of big flaps of its wings, from a tall tree on the Lake View side of the property, pulled its wings tight to its body and zoomed across the Red Car Property to a vacant lot on Corralitas Drive.  It was on the ground for a minute, before flying back with a bird in its talons, to a telephone pole on the Lake View side of the Red Car Property.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 17, 2017.  If you look closely, the hawk is on top of the telephone pole with a bunch of doves perched on the surrounding high voltage wires (uppermost set of wires) on the telephone pole.  

Worth noting: the native Black Walnuts in the foreground are recovering from last year's fire.

Corralitas Drive: Who Needs An Alarm Clock When You've Got Juvenile Hawks?

Photo: Corralitas Drive Neighbor, July 10, 2017.  Like clockwork, at dawn, one of the recently fledged Red Tailed Hawks calls to be fed from just outside a Corralitas neighbor's window.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Another Corralitas neighbor named one of the juveniles, Rodan, for its constant calling starting at dawn and continuing for hours.  

The Red Tailed Hawks help control the rodent population.  Our resident Red Tails have a taste for squirrels. 

Click here for all our hawk posts.
 

Corralitas Drive: Young Hungry Hawk

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, July 1, 2017.  Corralitas Drive neighbors report hearing hawks calling for hours outside their homes.  This telephone pole near the top of Corralitas Drive is a regular perch for Red Tails in the neighborhood.  (Click on photo to enlarge.) 

Last Saturday and again today, starting at dawn and continuing for hours, a recently fledged Red Tail Hawk was calling to be fed.  This is a particularly large youngster.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 1, 2017.  Even young hawks are aware of  people watching them.
 
We suspect the Red Tails have a nest in a tall pine tree on Corralitas Drive.  About a month ago, one neighbor reported seeing a large adult Red Tail pluck a squirrel out of a palm tree, then fly less than 100' to another neighbor's pine tree, landing in an opening of the branches near the top of the tree.  It appeared to be doing something in the tree with the squirrel as if it were feeding chicks.  It was too far for photos with a cell phone.  We usually see Red Tails eat meals atop telephone poles around the neighborhood.

The neighbor with the pine tree reported hawks frequently circling and calling in and around the tree and house this year.  This is typical nesting behavior in our neighborhood (we've watched the Red Tails in the nest on the 2 Freeway for years).  Since they nest high in the trees, neighbors are not always aware of the nest.  We've seen Red Tail juveniles return to the nest in the evenings months after they've fledged.

Corralitas Drive: Where To Look For Urban Hawks

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, May 1, 2017.  After weekend brush clearance, a neighbor's cats turned the yard into their own killing fields, sharing three gophers with their owner in the past two mornings. 

Hawks, like the cats, are more frequently seen hanging around lots where brush clearance is being or was recently done.  Look for Red Tailed Hawks sitting on tree branches, tops of telephone poles or even the railing of your deck, intently watching something on the nearby lot lot. (Yes, we have very urban hawks.) The hawks' backs are usually to the sun, so the prey is temporarily blinded when the hawk swoops in for the kill. 

Corralitas neighbors have long witnessed this hunting behavior.  We've even seen hawks drop in for a kill, while workers were still weed whacking the lot.  A few of us have actually been used by the hawks as we walked the Corralitas Public Staircase.  The hawks were using humans to screen for them, often only changing course slightly around the human's head then dropping back in to the human's shadow.  Both Red Tails and a few Cooper's Hawks have used this technique hunting near the Corralitas Public Staircase.  They're also careful to time their descent when the person is either distracted or has their back to the hawk.  This is a brilliant adaptation of hunting technique in our urban hillside neighborhood.

Its usually around this time of year when hawks' eggs are hatching.  They to feed rapidly growing chicks (in an area where almost every vacant lot has been built) the successful hawks adapted.

Red Car Canyon: New Year's Hawk Video

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, January 1, 2017.  A Red Tailed Hawk perched atop the huge Chinese Elm Tree near the opening of Red Car Canyon.  (The tree is recovering from the Silver Lake Fire.)  

Just moments prior to this photo, the hawk was walking around, "wandering the trail" until Vlahakis and his dog approached.  The hawk moved upslope on the Lake View side (where the video below begins), then flew up to the top of the big tree moments later.

With over an inch of rain since Friday, it's not surprising to see a Red Tailed Hawk on the ground.  Gophers clearing their holes of mud are an easy target. It is amazing to catch any of it on video as Vlahakis did.  In the past, we've had one Red Tail who's preferred method of hunting seemed to be walking around on the ground.  This may be the same hawk, coincidence or an injured raptor.  



Video: Gary Vlahakis, January 1, 2017.  Red Car Canyon.

If it is an injured hawk, take video and photos of its behavior.  If you see a hawk walking or struggling around on the ground, DO NOT approach it unless you are working with a trained wildlife rescuer.  Ojai Raptor Center guided us through several Red Tail rescues in the past.  If it is injured, it may hang around the same general area for a few days, so be alert and keep your dogs on a leash.  Email me immediately if you see the hawk on the ground in the canyon between Lake View and Corralitas: redcarproperty@gmail.com  

Corralitas Drive: Soaring

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, November 25, 2016.  Red Tailed Hawk over Corralitas Drive.  (Click on photo to enlarge.) 

Vlahakis texted, "I was loading the car and this GIANT shadow passed over me and I knew it was the one I've been trying to capture for some time...luckily he cruised for a couple of minutes."  I know how hard it is to get those great wildlife shots espcially when it's your personal white whale - the big Red Tail like this one or in my case - Cooper's Hawks.  You keep a camera handy and are quick to shoot, edit later.  With soaring shots you get a lot of blue sky and blurred birds.  It's so much easier now than the days when you had to waste a lot of film to get a great shot.  It's still a huge challenge and so satisfying to come up with a gem like this photo.  Thanks for sharing Gary!
 

Red Car Property: Red Shouldered HawksWhy Trees Matter

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 21, 2016. As I walked south on the Red Car Property from the historic landmark viaduct footings, I heard the telltale sound of a mockingbird harassing a predator.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)  

If you want to see more hawks, learn the pissed off calls of mockingbirds.  This one chased a Red Shouldered Hawk to a branch high in a tree on Lot C of the Red Car Property.  I watched as the mockingbird dive bombed the hawk and hopped from branch to branch of a tree that had not resprouted leaves this spring.  The little bird was fearless and relentless in its noisy display.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 21, 2016.  While the mockingbird focused the bulk of its energy on the hawk near the top of the tree, it kept diving into the dense branches at the center of this clump of trees.  At this time of year, that could mean a recently fledged hawk was hanging around in the relative safety of the trees.  

If you walk the Red Car Property regularly, you know how narrow this trail passageway is.  I didn't see the second hawk until I was within 10' of the trees. The bright backlighting worked in the hawk's favor, as the feathers on its back and wings look like dappled light coming through the leaves.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 21, 2016.  I felt privileged to witness a Red Shouldered Hawk so close, at eye level.  Both hawks kept an eye on me and my on-leash dog as I snapped photos blindly, hoping to catch a good shot.  Sadly, this was the best I could do. 

I don't know if it was a mated pair or one or two recently fledged Red Shouldered Hawks. In the past few years, we've documented Red Shouldered Hawks on the north end of the Red Car Property almost exclusively.

The north end of the Red Car Property is Red Shouldered Hawk territory, most likely because it is the closest urban forested area to the LA River in our neighborhood. Unfortunately, with such a large swath of trees clear cut from the adjacent Riverside Drive lots, as well as a portion of the Red Car Property, it remains to be seen if Red Shouldered Hawks will continue calling the Red Car Property home.

Learn more about Red Shouldered Hawks: Cornell University's All About Birds

Most of the time, we've seen Red Shouldered Hawks in California Black Walnut trees.  
Click here for all our Red Shouldered Hawk posts. 

2 Freeway: CalTrans Butchers Trees, Leaves Piles Of Trash

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, August 15, 2016.  CalTrans began cutting down Brazilian Pepper Trees on the northbound lanes of the 2 Freeway that were NOT burned by the Silver Lake Fire on June 19, 2016, yet left the load of trash on the slope.  For scale - that retaining wall along Allesandro Street is about 6 feet tall.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

It should come as no surprise that CalTrans removed the trees northeast of the Rosebud Overpass at Allesandro.  I had to call their government relations flak shortly after the fire to ensure he was aware the giant tree where the Red Tail Hawks nest (the first large tree on the left) was not even scorched in the fire.  At the time,  he was not sure if the tree was destined for removal.  Trees were evaluated by CalTrans tree experts and biologists. 

A month ago, the CalTrans rep told me they would be removing trees that were a danger to their roads and drivers.  They are not in the landscape business, it is not their job to make make it attractive for neighbors.  (Mitigations for living next to a freeway be damned.)  In the past few weeks, neighbors alerted the tree removal crews to the longstanding hawk nest as well.

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, August 15, 2016.  If you look closely in this section alone, there appear to be at least 3 clumps of Brazilian Pepper Trees removed.  As of today, the trash was still there.  We don't know what was under the sawdust.  

CalTrans will not be planting new trees. 

August 22, 2016, UPDATE: A neighbor forwarded a service request sent to CalTrans to pick up the trash on the 2 Freeway.  You can file service requests on CalTrans' website.

Red Car Canyon: Cooper's Hawks Taking On Great Horned Owl

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 11, 2016.  This morning, two Cooper's Hawks were harassing the Great Horned Owl who hangs out in the same pine tree on a regular basis in Red Car Canyon.  Naturally they were all in a densely wooded area.  This was the best shot.

The Cooper's Hawks, which are highly maneuverable forest  hawks, were were using timber bamboo, taking turns flying toward the owl in and out of the more brightly lit bamboo toward the owl who never moved from the tree.  Neighbors and I  witnessed the Cooper's Hawks harass the owl several times in recent years, caught it on camera twice.  All manner of birds from Red Tail Hawks to hummingbirds are known to harass Great Horned Owls, the apex avian predator.

I couldn't get a clear shot of the owl nor the hawks.  I had to give up after 10 minutes because I'd already spent too much time with an earlier Red Shouldered Hawk encounter between Adelbert cut through and India Street on the Red Car Property.

See all related posts: 
Cooper's Hawk
Great Horned Owl

Red Car Property: Squirrel Appreciation Day

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 25, 2013. Corralitas Red Car Neighborhood Red Tailed Hawks appreciate squirrels, big time.  

Apparently, today is Squirrel Appreciation Day, a holiday made for social media.  Personally, I don't appreciate the squirrels who steal the best heirloom tomatoes and fruit from my yard.  But the hawks sure like the squirrels.  And the squirrels help propagate the native Black Walnut and Coat Live Oak Trees that help hold the steep hillsides together when it rains.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 25, 2013.  Wide shot, same time.  Click here for the original post.

Red Car Canyon: Squirrels Quietly Sneaking Around

Photo: Diane Edwardson, December 14, 2015.  It's not just the birds on alert due to the Great Horned Owl hanging out in Red Car Canyon in the daytime.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Squirrel is also a favorite of the Red Tailed Hawks.  

Red Car Property: That's No Turkey

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 22, 2015. An enormous Red Tailed Hawk was one of a pair hunting on the north end of the Red Car Property.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

I heard a very loud crashing of branches and looked up to see a huge Red Tail trying to balance in a Eucalyptus off Adelbert.  Usually, adult Red Tails are not that clumsy.  I suspect it was chasing a squirrel and missed, or the squirrel jumped to escape and went tumbling down to the ground.  

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 22, 2015.  It took a moment for the  Red Tail to regain its composure, it was panting, as I've seen them do after making a kill.  It must be the adrenaline of the hunt.   It sat in the tree watching something on the ground below for a few minutes before taking off, circling low around the north end of the property a few times, looking for alternate prey.  Considering neither AM/PM nor Rick's keep their trash bins covered, there should be an ample supply of rats on this end of the property too.

The first hawk quickly gained altitude, soaring in larger circles in the high winds and landed near the top of the DWP power line tower across Fletcher behind Home Restaurant.

The second hawk had been calling to the first throughout this encounter. I don't know if the second hawk was its mate or one of this year's babies.  Red Tails will hang around with their parents for the better part of a year while they learn to hunt. 

Red Car Canyon: Cooper's Hawk VS Owl 2015

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 16, 2015, 12:22 PM.  While walking through Red Car Canyon Monday,  I heard two unusual sounding birds calling in an alarmed manner, high in the pine trees.  It took me a while to find the first one.  It was a Cooper's Hawk.  Long horizontal striped tail feathers, with rounded ends were the giveaway.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 16, 2015.  I heard two Cooper's Hawks calling and directing anger at something between them, in the middle of a bunch of dense branches. However, I could only see one adult Cooper's Hawk.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 16, 2015.  The hawk had been hopping from branch to branch, flapping its wings in  threatening manner, making itself big, calling intermittently before settling on one branch in the shade of the tree trunk.  

Hiding in the shade of a tree trunk is a smart technique I've seen hawks use when hunting.  They are hard to see (and photograph) because their prey can't easily see the hawk as they're blinded by the sun behind the tree.  (I know I was blinded by the sun.  I just shoot on instinct in these situations.)

The hawk kept looking over her shoulder, in the direction of Lake View Ave.  Last week and just the day before, two different neighbors sent photos of a Cooper's Hawk on Lake View and behind Rose Scharlin Nursery School.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 16, 2015.  Finally, I found the target of the Cooper's Hawk's wrath, a Great Horned Owl.

Unfortunately, I could not get a clear shot of the owl.  Last week, the Lake View neighbor said he'd recently heard owls in the canyon on his walks.  He also thought the Cooper's Hawks had a nest nearby.

Great Horned Owls are the apex predators of the sky, so other birds tend to gang up on them.  This is not the first time we've seen a Cooper's Hawk take on a Great Horned Owl in Red Car Canyon.  The owl just ignored the hawk.  Great Horned Owls are known to sleep in the canyon in the daytime.  If you don't hear birds at all in the canyon - look up - there's usually a hawk or an owl hanging around.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 16, 2015.  After almost a half hour of observing the drama, which was already in progress when I arrived, the Cooper's Hawk called up to Lake View.  This is the last shot I got before she took off in that direction.  The dense trees, Cooper's Hawks preferred habitat, prevented me from seeing where she went.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 18, 2015.  I forgot to get a wide shot on the same day as the standoff since I'd been blinded by the sun.  So here are the trees the owl and hawk were in.  Arrows point to their approximate location - they are not in this photo.  It's the same clump of trees where we first documented a Great Horned Owl in the canyon.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology has great info, photos and audio:
Cooper's Hawks
Great Horned Owls

Lake View Ave: Juvenile Cooper's Hawk

Photo: Gary Macheel, November 9, 2015.  Monday morning, a young Cooper's Hawk paid a visit to Macheel's yard. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

When Macheel sent me this photo, I immediately knew I'd seen a similar raptor near the Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase and the Red Car Property a few months ago.  I've often seen Cooper's Hawks flying north on Lake View, then take a left at Macheel's house, disappearing in the trees on the steep slope between Lake View and Silver Ridge.

Red Car Canyon between Lake View Ave  and Corralitas Drive is prime Cooper's Hawk territory.  Cooper's Hawk's are forest dwelling hawks that have adapted well to the urban forest on Silver Lake and Echo Park.  They like to hunt in the dense trees and have remarkable maneuvering ability. 

Additionally, be on the lookout for Great Horned Owls.  Macheel said he and his wife "saw it on our morning walk two days ago...gliding above us...white underbelly and wings."

Click here for all our Cooper's Hawk posts. 

Learn more about Cooper's Hawks: Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Corralitas Drive: Red Tail Hawk With Prey

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 9, 2015.  If you look closely, the Red Tail is clutching a good sized mammal.  The rodent's hind legs and butt are just barely visible to the right and beneath the hawk.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 9, 2015.  When I shot these photos, I thought something was odd about the way the hawk was perched atop the big pine tree near the top of Corralitas,  So I zoomed all the way in.  Unfortunately, the first photo (above) was the best I could do.  Plus, this appears to be a very mature hawk, that's why I thing it's a squirrel. The younger hawks don't seem to catch squirrels easily.  Additionally, I know this hawk has been hanging around the top of Corrallitas near the construction site, scoping it out for rats.  
 

Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase: Red-Shouldered Hawk Expanding Territiory?

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 8, 2015, 8:50 AM.  I'd never seen an adult Red-Shouldered Hawk this far south in the neighborhood:  on the Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase, between the Red Car Property and Lake View Ave.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Once again, songbirds alerted me to a nearby hawk.  They were giving a funky alarmed call that I did not recognize, as I walked up the public staircase from the Red Car Property.  (Perhaps they have different alarm calls for different hawks, it was not their Red Tailed Hawk alarm call.) 

So I stopped, searching through the trees, not immediately realizing the Red-Shouldered Hawk was directly above me.  Luckily, I caught a few frames before it flew south through some very dense trees in backyards on the Lake View Ave side of the Red Car Property.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 8, 2015.  The red arrow points to where the hawk was perched in the tree.  (Photo was taken after it took off.)  It was scanning the dense brush beneath the power lines for prey.  

When it took off, it was calling, as if it were searching for its fledged youngsters from this spring.  It continued calling when it landed in a palm tree further south on Lake View and again, as it flew even further south into the forested steep slope between Lake View and Silver Ridge.  There I lost sight of the forest dwelling bird.  We've seen similar calling from the Red Tail Hawk parents when they call to their youngsters, which they feed for up to a year.   

It shouldn't be too surprising to see Red-Shouldered Hawks this far south off the Red Car Property, since the north end of the Red Car Property is no longer densely forested because so many big Eucalyptus trees died and were removed in the past 2 years.  

The north end of the property near Adelbert seemed to be Red-Shouldered Hawk territory.  The slot between India and Roselin, as well as Red Car Canyon, Lake View and the top of Silver Ridge belonged to Cooper's Hawks.  While the south end and the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract was claimed by the big Red Tailed Hawks who nest on the 2 Freeway at Rosebud Ave.  

This year, there's not been a clear pattern of raptor sightings as in years past.  Between drought and habitat destruction of the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract, the balance of power in the raptor world may be all screwed up in our neighborhood. 

Learn more about Red-Shouldered Hawks: Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Red Car Property: Little Black Walnut Tree At Corralitas Keeps Coming Back

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 27, 2015. Earlier this month, brush clearance contractors once again whacked this formerly 3' tall California Black Walnut down to the ground. (Click on photos to enlarge.)  

It is impressive how deep even the youngest native trees must set down roots.  Usually we have to wait until the rainy season to learn if it survived another year.  However, despite the drought, nearly an inch of rain from Tropical Storm Dolores a few weeks ago, sparked a quick regrowth.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 27, 2015.  The little walnut tree has been attempting to grow in the shadow of the much larger tree at the Corralitas entrance to the Red Car Property.   Squirrels frequent the prolific tree for walnuts.  Red Tailed Hawks watch the tree from a telephone pole or tree either on the Red Car Property or the 2 Freeway, waiting for a distracted squirrel so they can swoop in for a meal.  
 

Red Car Property & Silver Lake Ave Public Staircase: Red Tailed Hawk

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 11, 2015.  A Red Tailed Hawk took refuge from the momentarily heavy rain last Thursday, in a very large, dense Eucalyptus in a Lake View Ave backyard, directly adjacent to the Silver lake Ave Public Staircase and the Red Car Property.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

What is impressive about this photo is that I found the hawk at all in the tree.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 11, 2015.  The red arrows are pointing to the hawk in the tree.  I did not move from the same spot, just south the public staircase on the Red Car Property, to shoot the first photo.  It's just zoomed in using my little point & shoot Nikon. 

Honestly, while I was shooting I had no idea what kind of predatory bird it was.  It could have been Great Horned Owl, Red Tailed Hawk or Red Shouldered Hawk.  It looked too large to be a Cooper's Hawk, but they are known to hunt the corridor between Roselin and Riverside Place.  Shoot (photos) first.  Ask questions later.  

I only found the bird because the Mockingbirds were harassing it so badly while dive-bombing it.  Just follow the Mockingbirds.  

Red Car Property: North End Is Red-Shouldered Hawk Territory

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 5, 2015.  I admit, when I shot this photo, I could not see what species of hawk it was, but suspected it was a Red-Shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus).  Indeed, It was. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Red-Shouldered Hawks are forest dwelling hawks that also like to hang out near water.  So the north end of the Red Car Property and the hills above it, with its proximity to the LA River,  are ideal territory.  I have only occasionally seen them elsewhere in the neighborhood.  I've shot all but one photo of Red-Shouldered Hawks in the stretch of the Red Car Property adjacent to Adelbert Ave. In our neighborhood, it is their preferred urban forest territory.
 
I had stopped to take photos of some wildflowers on Adelbert when a hawk flew through the dense trees overhead, calling the whole time, landing in one of the huge native Black Walnut Trees just below the Red Car Property, off Riverside Drive. I managed to catch a few frames before it took off in the direction of Riverside & Fletcher.  

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 5, 2015.  The tree in the center is the California Black Walnut the Red Shouldered Hawk perched briefly, and took off before I could get a wide shot.  (Maybe it was because I was juggling the dog, a phone and a camera at the same time.)

Unfortunately, even the north end of the Red Car Property has been hit hard by the megadrought.  More than a dozen large Eucalyptus were removed last year after they died (due to extreme fire danger & their proximity to homes).  It dramatically changed the the ecosystem on this end of the property.  Not only is there a lot less shade, it's now hotter and drier.  Even the native trees are not doing as well as they usually do during the summer months on the north end of the property. 

Click here for all our Red-Shouldered Hawk posts.

Lot C: Mockingbird Is Way Too Bold

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 19, 2015.  As I passed the India Street entrance to the Red Car Property, I once again heard the nasty threatening sounds of mockingbirds divebombing a hawk in a tree on the slope above the Red Car Property (Silver Lake Court). (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Due to the extreme backlighting I really did not know what type of hawk it was until the mocking bird chased it from its perch.  Thus the hawk revealed its red tail feathers.  

It never ceases to amaze me how big mockingbirds can make themselves appear when they are taking on a hawk.