Corralitas Drive: Great Horned Owl

Video: Corralitas Neighbor, February 8, 2017. A neighbor managed to capture video of a very large Great Horned Owl taking off from a telephone pole near his house.  The owl flew southeast, toward the top of the hill.  

Great Horned Owls eat rats, mice, gophers and squirrels.  Cooper's Hawks really hate them.  Click here for all our owl posts.

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 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 Canyon: Great Horned Owl Territory

Photo: Diane Edwardson, December 3, 2015.  Today, mockingbirds, jays and hummingbirds were harassing the Great Horned Owl in the pine tree.  (Click on photo to enlarge.) 

Red Car Canyon: Feel Like You're Being Watched?

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 21, 2015, 11:11 AM.  Once again the birds were absolutely silent as I walked through the wooded canyon between Corralitas, Lake View and Riverside Place, so I looked up. The owl was not pleased to see me.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Since my encounter earlier in the week with a Great Horned Owl and a really pissed-off Cooper's Hawk, I knew where to look in the pine trees.  Naturally, the Great Horned Owl was in the most dense part of the tree.  This time, it was awake and cleaning its chest feathers.  No Cooper's Hawks, nor any orther birds were around to harass it.  The light was hitting it just perfectly.  I spent several minutes trying to find a clear shot.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 21, 2015.  If you look closely, you can see its "horns." I'm always impressed at how well Great Horned Owls' horizontal pattern on the chest and abdomen feathers aid in their camouflage among the pine needles.  

After 10 minutes, the light shifted and it was an impossible shot again.  This was just pure luck and knowing wildlife tend to be creatures of habit, in this case, sleeping in the same tree every day.

Neighbors report hearing owls in the neighborhood lately, particularly in the canyon area, where there are usually lot of squirrels.

Learn more about Great Horned Owls: Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Click here for all our owl related posts. 

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

Red Car Canyon: Owls Have Been Busy

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 8, 2014.  Every morning there seems to be another pile of owl pellet below a tree in Red Car Canyon near the junction of Riverside Place.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)  

The arrows point to piles of fur &  other animal parts, barfed up by what is likely a Great Horned Owl, known to hang out in trees above the trail.  The squirrels in the canyon  have been very quiet this year.

Click here for all our owl related posts.

Red Car Canyon: 25' Tree Branch Falls, Adding To Fire Danger *Updated

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 7, 2013.  A 25-foot long Eucalyptus tree branch fell in Red Car Canyon, sometime between Thursday & Saturday mornings.  (Click on photos to enlarge.) 

It is adjacent to the long since fallen, now dead, Eucalyptus tree* & palm tree in dire need of thinning of dead palm fronds.  Further upslope, there are several dense Eucalyptus trees towering above the palm tree, also in need of trimming, as they are looking dry too. 

However, care needs to be taken when thinning out the dead palm fronds and dense trees as they do provide habitat for Great Horned Owls & Cooper's Hawks, as well as other urban wildlife like skunks, opossums, raccoons, coyotes.  Earlier this year, a neighbor called me to document a Cooper's Hawk harassing a Great Horned Owl in this canyon.  After a good 20 minutes, the owl finally sought refuge in the dark, dense branches between the palm tree & Eucalyptus.

Red Car Canyon is the only part of the Red Car Property where both predators are routinely seen & heard by neighbors (usually not at the same time).

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 9, 2013.  The LAFD Brush Clearance Red Tag Notice is dated September 4, 2013.

Eucalyptus throughout the neighborhood are dying & creating a fire hazard.  The LAFD Brush Clearance Unit noticed the Red Car Property owner to clear this lot (APN 5440-030-033) of dead trees, dry brush & debris last week.  Neighbors on both the Lake View Ave & Corralitas Drive sides of Red Car Canyon are very concerned about these conditions.  City Council District 13 Deputy Adam Bass has been notified of the problem & is working on solutions for this & other ongoing issues on the Red Car Property.

* 9-19-13, UPDATE: The long since dead Eucalyptus went down in January 2010.

Above Red Car Canyon: "Laura Palmer's Owl" Video

Video: Russell Bates, May 2013.  Change the settings to watch in full screen 1080pHD with the sound on, or watch it on YouTube. 

A few months ago, Bates shot some amazing footage of a Great Horned Owl hanging around his yard, above Red Car Canyon.  In the video, mockingbirds dive bomb the owl. 

The owls are not what they seem....

All manner of birds harass Great Horned Owls, as they are the apex predator in the bird world.  Their feathers are so specialized, they fly silently through the dark to catch their prey, which they see quite with those large eyes. 

Learn more about Great Horned Owls: Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Check out LA Audubon's new facebook page: Bird LA

Red Car Canyon: Cooper's Hawk Takes On Great Horned Owl

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 22, 2013.  Got a call from a neighbor that a hawk was harassing a Great Horned Owl in Red Car Canyon; grabbed my camera & ran down the street.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)  

The neighbor had seen owls in the twilight & at night in the canyon, but not at 11 AM. The hawk had been screeching at & chasing the owl for about 5 minutes before I got there.   

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 22, 2013.  We surmised by the hawk's striped tail, small head & distinctive call, & the fact that it didn't hesitate to fly into the dense trees and bamboo, that it was a Cooper's Hawk.  The hawk was flapping its wings and making short threatening flights toward the owl, when they weren't in a stand-off, staring at each other.  In fact, I'd never seen a Cooper's Hawk so puffed up, making itself look like a much larger bird.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 22, 2013.  The owl mostly seemed annoyed by the hawk (note the small head & gray back - Cooper's Hawk).  The owl eventually flew into some very dense trees about 100' south in the canyon (near the sewer outlet).   The hawk continued its chase, into the dense trees.  We lost site of it, but continued to hear the hawk calling.  

The Canyon Neighbor sees Cooper's Hawks flying in & out of the trees in the canyon fairly often, including this dense thicket.  He said mockingbirds are usually harassing the Cooper's Hawks.  Cooper's Hawks are a forest dwelling hawk that prey on other birds.  They often stalk prey at neighbors' bird baths. 

Unlike Russell Bates, who lives a bit further up from the canyon, Canyon Neighbor has never seen birds take on owls.  It must be a territorial issue.  Clearly Red Car Canyon is daytime territory for the Cooper's Hawk.  It's likely she has a nest nearby.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 22, 2013.  Why are these photos so bad?  Shooting with a point & shoot into the dense trees in dappled light is asking a lot.  If you look really closely, you can see both birds in this wide shot.  You can also appreciate the flying skills of the hawk to be on the attack in such a dangerously branched tree.  Where the owl took refuge next, was so dark you could not even see into the blackness.  The hawk followed & continued its assault, though mostly from the edge of the daylight.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology has lots of info:
Great Horned Owls
Cooper's Hawks

Send us your Red Car Neighborhood wildlife encounter photos with a description of when, where & what the animals were doing at the time: redcarproperty@gmail.com.

Lake View Ave: Great Horned Owl, Another Amazing Daytime Sighting

Photo: Russell Bates, May 23, 2013.  Great Horned Owls are large bodied owls with big golden eyes & widely spaced ear tufts. 

Bates sent an email with photos last week, "A couple of days ago we had another owl show up in one of our Eucalyptus trees. It hung out all through the afternoon and into the evening. As usual, all the neighborhood birds were yelling at it, and several jays where making swoops all around." 

Try to understand just how special it is to see a Great Horned Owl in person, in the wilds of Silver Lake, in the daylight, let alone take great photographs of it.  In 32 years in Los Angeles, I've seen a Great Horned Owl just twice in the daytime.  Bates not only got a great photo of one back in 2009, he was visited twice last week by the same owl.  He's hoping it's got a nest nearby.

Click here for all our Great Horned Owl encounters.

Learn more about Great Horned Owls: Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Corralitas Drive: Great Horned Owl Sighting

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, December 31, 2011.  This may or may not be the same owl I saw yesterday, January 10, 2012.  It's another one of Vandiveer's terrific photos of the Great Horned Owl in Red Car Canyon.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Around 1PM yesterday, a neighbor and I were playing with the dogs in my backyard, when a very large Great Horned Owl casually flew across the backyard, 9 feet above our heads!  We couldn't see where it flew to, but it was heading for the Eucalyptus trees below the log cabins on Corralitas Drive. We were wowed by the encounter. 

We both initially thought it was a hawk when we first saw it.  Since it was slowly flying by, we could see the head and body were much larger, and you could see the "horns."  Of course, neither of us had a camera handy.

We noticed the squirrels had been unusually quiet.  They're typically jumping and running from tree to tree, chattering constantly.  They knew there was a predator nearby.  (We've got way too many squirrels in our yard - predators are welcome here!)   The birds were silent too.

1-10-12, Another Raptor Sighting:

Around 5 PM yesterday, the same neighbor and I were out in the street, telling 3 other neighbors about our earlier owl encounter.  On cue, a small hawk, possibly Cooper's or Red Shouldered Hawk flew overhead and joined a second one already sitting atop a big pine tree on Corralitas Drive. 

Send us photos of your Red Car Neighborhood wildlife sightings: redcarproperty@gmail.com. 

Red Car Canyon: Great Horned Owl, Rare Daylight Sighting

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, December 31, 2011, 10:12 AM.  What appears to be a Great Horned Owl was sleeping in a pine tree in Red Car Canyon.  Note how well camouflaged its chest feathers are, reflecting the pattern of the pine needles.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Just minutes after the Kestrel encounter, I walked into the wooded canyon on the Red Car Property.  It was eerily quiet; no birds singing at all.  I immediately looked around for a hawk, since the birds go quiet when there's a hawk nearby.  In a tree favored by the Cooper's Hawks, the owl was sleeping.  I called Red Car Property neighbor Jonathan Vandiveer, who got the great shot above. 

Vandiveer had been hearing owls calling at night lately, but he thought his neighbor had been joking with him, because the whoo-hoo-whoo sounded like a human, not an owl.  He was pleased to finally get to see the owl in person.  Thanks for the awesome photo!

Photo: Diane Edwardson, December 31, 10:12 AM.  The owl was trying to sleep while neighbors with barking, playing dogs came through the canyon.  None of us had seen one in mid-morning before.  One neighbor said she hears them in the pine trees on Bancroft near Earl this time of year and in the summer.

One neighbor present said he regularly sees them in the canyon, at dusk and after dark.  He's often seen owls and hawks following dogs on the Red Car Property.  I pointed out that his dog likes to chase squirrels, so the prey would be distracted by the dog and the owl would take advantage of the opportunity to catch the squirrel.  Smart adaptation indeed.  

Photo: Diane Edwardson, December 31, 2011, 10:35 AM.  Later, when I returned through the canyon, the owl was still sleeping in the pine tree.  It's easier to see large or unique birds in the canyon right now, because so many trees went down in the December 1, 2011 windstorm.  There's a lot more daylight than there was a month ago.

Learn more about Great Horned Owls: Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Send us your Red Car Property neighborhood wildlife photos: redcarproperty@gmail.com.

Corralitas Drive: Great Horned Owl At Twilight

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 30, 2011, 6:32 PM.  Can you see the owl atop the Italian Cypress Tree?  (Click on photos to enlarge.) 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 30, 2011, 6:34 PM.  I could see the ear tufts indicating it was a Great Horned Owl, but they didn't read in the waning light shot with a handheld point & shoot camera.  This time of year, you can hear their calls at night. 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 30, 2011, 6:34 PM.  The moon was grinning like the Cheshire Cat, while the owl was looking for tasty rats.  After cooperating for a few frames, the owl flew to the top of a neighbor's Eucalyptus Tree. 

Great Horned Owls are the only animal that regularly eats skunks.  No wonder we hear so many owls around my yard.  Learn more about Great Horned Owls: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 



Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract: Who's Been Nesting In The Dead Tree?

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 28, 2011.  A branch fell off a dead tree some time ago and some new residents moved in.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)  

Owls are known to nest in dead trees.  In this neighborhood, we've had a lot of Great Horned Owl sightings.  One Corralitas neighbor described 3 distinctly different species of owls he's seen in the neighborhood to me.  Including Great Horned Owl, a smaller horned owl (as of yet to be determined species) and Barn Owl.  I've seen and heard them too.

A few nights ago, for the first time, I heard a Barn Owl screeching from a top a tree in my backyard, just after midnight.  Listen to a Barn Owl on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's website.  It's a sound I'll never forget.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 28, 2011.  The tree (of an undetermined species) died a few years back.  The nest looks as though it was used this year.  (Click on photo to enlarge.) 

The dead tree is on the lower plateau (near Allesandro & Sunflower) of the controversial 16-lot subdivision.  It is on the section of the property where all of the trees will be razed for grading and construction.

Red Car Property: Another Sign Predators Are Doing Well This Year

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 18, 2011.  Native California Black Walnuts litter the ground above the historic viaduct footings and throughout the Red Car Property.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The past couple years, Black Walnuts were stripped from the trees by the squirrel overpopulation. You could barely find any walnuts on the ground.   Squirrels were even getting obese.  This year, judging by the plethora of walnuts on the ground and still on the trees, hawks, owls and other predators have been quite successful in controlling the squirrel population. 

Lake View Ave: Hoo Are You Looking At?

Photo: Russell Bates, May 3, 2009. Great Horned Owl in Eucalyptus tree on Lake View Ave. (Click on photo to enlarge for awesome feather detail.)

Red Car Property neighbor, Russell Bates sent this amazingly detailed photo of a Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) in his Eucalyptus tree. Several crows and a hawk kept circling the owl while it hung out in the tree yesterday. According to Bates, the noise of the birds harassing the owl was cacophonous.

I once saw a progression of birds similarly harass an owl in a neighbor's tree. Red tail hawks, kestrels, crows, mockingbirds, a variety of little birds and even hummingbirds all took their turn dive-bombing and screaming at the owl for a couple of hours one morning. Owls are stealthy hunters. They fly completely silently due to specialized feathers, so it's no wonder the other birds try to chase them off. Bates pointed out, "It's also fairly bone-chilling to have an owl stare at you."

Last December, many neighbors on Corralitas Drive and Riverside Place reported routine sightings of two Great Horned Owls calling to one another. A Corralitas neighbor reported an owl flying right past her head while she was standing on her deck, just a couple of weeks ago. Lately, the owls have been "hooting" around Corralitas the pre-dawn hours.

You can listen to the calls of Great Horned Owls on the Ojai Raptor Center's website. (They rehabilitated and released one of the red tail hawks we rescued a few years ago.)

Several neighbors have tried to snap photos of the owls. Bates is the first to succeed. Kudos!

If you have photos of any neighborhood wildlife, please send them to Diane Edwardson at redcarproperty@gmail.com with info pertaining to when, where and who took the photo as well as any other observations of the animal's behavior at the time. DO NOT attempt to pet or feed wildlife.