Corralitas Drive: Not A Frog

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, October 17, 2017.  A neighbor rescued the tiniest lizard from one of the killer kitties.  It's most likely a fence lizard.  The neighbor placed it way up in a bird of paradise flower, out of reach of the killer cats.  

It's Urban Wildlife Week.  More info @NatureinLA

Related: All our lizard posts

Corralitas Drive: Ring-Necked Snake V.S. Cat

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, August 12, 2017.  A neighbor's cat found a tiny snake to play with.  Use the garden hose for scale.

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, August 12, 2017.  It was a fast moving, squirmy little thing, fascinating the cat.

Photo: Corralitas Drive Neighbor, August 12, 2017.  The snake was about a foot long, the width of a pencil, olive green, dark head, light ring around the neck.  It was a Ring-Necked Snake. 

Photo: Corralitas Drive Neighbor, August 12, 2017.  The snake made a break for nearby rocks where it made its getaway,  distracting the cat by wiggling and curling/uncurling the bright red underside of it tail.

Ring-Necked Snakes in our neighborhood live in the leaf litter below big trees and lots of shade.  They seem to prefer areas with more moisture on Riverside Place, Corralitas Drive and Red Car Canyon.  According to California Herps, they eat Slender Salamanders - also found in all the same habitat in the neighborhood.

Learn more about Ring-Necked Snakes: California Herps.

Worth noting on California Herps is the conservation status.  USDA Forest Service lists the subspecies as "Sensitive;" Nature Serve State Ranking: S2, "Imperiled in the state because of rarity due to very restricted range, very few populations (often 20 or fewer), steep declines, or other factors making it very vulnerable to extirpation from the state."  

Luckily this snake got away!

Note: We're playing catch up for the month of August. This was post was actually published 8-24-17 and backdated to the date the photos were shot and originally published on Twitter. 
 

Red Car Property: "Today's Nature Walk, From Tinderbox To Rain Forest!"

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 2, 2017.  Another Red Car Property Neighbor had a prettier view of the depressingly dry conditions on the Corralitas end of the Red Car Property. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 2, 2017.  Who was guarding the trees in Red Car Canyon? Summer is a great time of year to watch lizards in Red Car Canyon. The dappled light and cooler temps in the canyon attract lizards  and their insect prey. 

The LA County Natural History Museum wants your neighborhood photos of Lizards taken June 1 through July 31, 2017.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 2, 2017.  Mourning Doves tend to be nervous visitors to the shade of Red Car Canyon.  Cooper's Hawks tend to hunt birds and likely nest in the canyon too.  We've witnessed a number of Cooper's Hawk vs Great Horned Owl smackdowns in the canyon through the years.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 2, 2017.  Cooper's Hawks prefer the dense trees in Red Car Canyon.  They have  keen eyesight good maneuvering ability to catch prey by surprise in the high contrast lighting conditions in the Canyon.  It's hard to believe this scene is a few 100' from the first photo in the series.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 2, 2017.  And yes, the neighbor saw the No Trespassing signs on the ground.  

As always, we are grateful for the contributions of photos from our many Red Car Property neighbors.

Red Car Property Adjacent: "Squirmy"

Photo: Stephanie Bartron, January 2, 2017.  Recent rains bring Slender Salamanders out of hiding.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Bartron writes in an email, "I usually find them in the soil, while pulling out invasive grasses or just under a layer of rotting leaves."  

Red Car Canyon, as well as gardens with shady, moist areas seem to be favored neighborhood habitat for the tiny amphibians that are sometimes mistaken for worms. 

Bartron continued, "These guys are super wiggly, small and worm-like like when you first see them. Last time I found one, its tail came off, either from fear or my weeding spade.  So there were two crazy wiggling things for a few minutes. We named him 'Squirmy' and I let the kids make a habitat for him and keep him for a few days before releasing."

Photo: Stephanie Bartron, January 2, 2017.  Using a dime for scale really gives you an idea of just how slim the Slender Salamander really is.

Bartron, who co-authored LA County handbook, The Drought Tolerant Garden, added, "They are protected in Oregon, but not here.  They're not super common though, a great example of how Southern California is a biodynamic hotspot."

Learn more about all kinds of salamanders on California Herps

Click here for all our Slender Salamander posts.  

Corralitas Drive: Odd Behavior

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, March 31, 2016.  A neighbor noticed the cats acting strangely.  Fred the cat seemed to be focused on not moving, while the other cat watched at close range.  Look closely at the cat's feet, a reptile tail is poking out.  The neighbor shooed the cat off.

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, March 31, 2016.  Indeed the cat had been sitting on a rather large Alligator Lizard. The other cat was making sure the lizard didn't get away.  Alligator lizards are nasty lizards that snap and bite and will actually lock their jaws onto you if necessary to defend themselves.  Since the neighbor knew this, the cats were herded into the house and the neighbor let the lizard escape. 

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, March 31, 2016.  How big was the lizard? The detached tail was 7" and the lizard was significantly longer.  The lizard got away, later seen way up on the side of the house where the cats couldn't reach it.

Knowing Alligator Lizards' penchant for biting with a bacteria filled mouth that  can easily cause infection, the neighbor checked the Fred for bites and found none.  Luckily if he was bitten, the lizard just got a mouthful of long fur. 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 6, 2013.  Fred is known to pal around with lizards.  This one was just playing dead.   Yes, really. 

Corralitas Drive: Mildly Colorful Lizard

*Stuff you missed this year...

Photo: Diane Edwardson, March 15, 2015.  I thought this was a Fence Lizard, however, looking at California Herps, it also looks like a Spiny Lizard.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Send your lizard photos to LA County Natural Natural History Museum's RASCals project.  Click here for more info.

Stuff You Missed This Year is our annual wrap up of interesting photos and things we just didn't have a chance to run, because everything seems to always happen at the same time.

Corralitas Drive: Baby Lizard Season

Photo: Diane Edwardson, August 22, 2015.  Baby lizards seem to be everywhere these days.  This one was 2" nose to tail.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

LA County Natural History Museum wants your photos of lizards and other reptiles you find in LA County for its RASCals Project.

Red Car Property: Celebrating July 4th With Red, White & Blue

It's a patriotic natural world on the Red Car Property.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2015. RED: California Harvester Ants indicators of a diverse environment to sustain their continued existence.  Find them on the north end of the Red Car Property.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Note: Harvester Ants are NOT Red Imported Fire Ants.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2015. WHITE: Jimsonweed is native, attracts really big moths, but is highly toxic according to Wikipedia.*

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2015.  BLUE: A very blue-bellied Fence Lizard was rescued from the cats and released back into the wild.  We've never seen one quite so blue before.  Fence Lizards are the most commonly seen, yet diversely camouflaged lizard in the Red Car Property neighborhood. 

Have a safe and sane Independence Day!

*Disclaimer: The Corralitas Red Car Property Blog prefers to quote reliable sources, such as CalFlora and California Poison Control on the issue of toxicity.  We often get email suggesting some plants are edible. If you are eating your way through the Red Car Property, we DO NOT recommend you eat any plant you find in the Red Car Property neighborhood without first doing your own research. 

Red Car Canyon Adjacent: Gopher Snake Pretending To Be A Rattlesnake

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, May 28, 2015.  A rather large snake was lurking in the bushes outside Vandiveer's home office yesterday.  His cat kept trying to play with it.  After Vandiveer pushed the cat in the house, he was able to shoot some photos.  

As Gopher Snakes will do,  this one was shaking its tail and rattling the bushes trying  to scare off Vandiveer, a potential predator.  Unfortunately, Vandiveer was unable to capture the masquerade on video.  However, if you look closely at the photo, both the head and the tail are in the lower third of the shot, definitely a Gopher Snake.

I've noticed gopher snakes actually make more noise than rattlesnakes in Los Angeles.  The urban environment is just too loud in places like the Hollywood Hills to hear actual rattle on a rattlesnake.  The technique must work for the Gopher Snakes.  Vandiveer only learned its true length when it slithered away, easily a 6-foot snake.  It has been eating well in the neighborhood.

Gopher Snakes eat gophers, rats and mice.  A rattlesnake has not been documented in the Red Car Property neighborhood.  They do live in Griffith Park.  You should not attempt to touch or handle any wildlife. 

May is traditionally a big time for Gopher Snake sightings in the neighborhood. Click here for all our snake related posts.

Learn more about gopher snakes: CalHerps

Corralitas Komodo Dragon Preserve

April Fool's Post 2015

Photo: Diane Edwardson, March 30, 2015.

Komodo Dragons are coming to Corralitas Drive in Silver Lake!  At a press conference this morning, the mayor, together with a Corralitas Drive homeowner, announced the arrival of 6 Komodo Dragons, an endangered species, to the former Corralitas Panda Preserve. 

Four years of drought took its toll on the bamboo, making the Panda Preserve unsustainable.  The Chinese government recalled the Pandas to their home province of Hunan.

The mayor expressed his pride in "the creative zoning solution to allow an important California breeding program for an endangered species in a residentially zoned neighborhood, so close to schools and the LA River.  It's a win-win for the entire community."  

The Indonesian reptile, known to grow 9 feet long, weigh 200 lbs and can run 11 miles per hour, feeds on carrion, so there were quite a few health codes to get around hurdles to clear.  

The homeowner plans to sell close up viewing tours of the backyard preserve to help finance the aquisition of the Red Car Property, "Celebrities and politicians have been making reservations all week."

DISCLAIMER: This post should not be taken as proof of anything other than April Foolishness.  Photo is a 6" Fence Lizard shot in Red Car Canyon, March 30, 2015.

Unexpected Wildlife Encounters: In 2008, It Was A Fox. More Unusual & Just Plain Strange Neighborhood Wildlife

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2008. Gray fox. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Today's Eastsider story on the bobcat found on the 2 Freeway just off Corralitas Drive, got us thinking about all the other out of the ordinary wildlife encounters we've highlighted on this blog. 

I lived in the neighborhood for 18 years before I saw a gray fox - living not far from where the bobcat was recovered on the 2 Freeway.  More than a dozen neighbors witnessed the fox on different parts of the street, day & night over a several week period in 2008.  (The fox is alive but asleep in the above photo - it was having running dreams like a dog has - all 4 feet were moving.)  See all our fox related posts.

Sometimes you only know what lives in the neighborhood once it turns up dead...

Photo: C.Weir, 2009.
A Ring-necked snake turned up for the first time in Red Car Canyon in 2009.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2011.
A blue-green bee should not have been surprising since we'd seen a green bee in 2010.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2012.
A scary looking alien type bug turned out to be an Angle-Winged Katydid.

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, 2008. No, that's not MOTHRA! with a 7" wingspan, but a Black Witch Moth Vandiveer found on his doorstep.

Then there's the unexpected...

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2014.
Giant Swallowtail Butterflies suddenly appeared on Corralitas last summer.

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, 2009.
Vandiveer documented Slender Salamanders for the first time just off Red Car Canyon.

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, 2011.
While not the first daytime Great Horned Owl sighting in the neighborhood, it was the first documented daytime sighting on the Red Car Property.  See all our owl related posts.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2013.
Red Car Canyon was the site of Cooper's Hawk vs Great Horned Owl. 

Photo: Corralitas Neighbor, 2010.
Wonder why it took so long to document a praying mantis?  There's no way we'd have seen her in the wild.

Now for the just plain strange & scary...

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, 2013.  The male praying mantis can walk around for days after the female cuts his head off.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2014.
The Tarantula Hawk is the stuff of nightmares, first documented on the Red Car Property in 2013. 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, 2014. 
One of the strangest bugs I've ever encountered was the Green Lynx Spider, who looked like a refugee from the day-glo 1980s.

Red Car Canyon: When You're Looking For 4-Leaf Clovers, Keep An Eye Out For This Guy!

Photo: Diane Edwardson, March 14, 2015.  A very large (about 15" long, nose to tip of tail) Alligator Lizard startled me in the canyon.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The lizard ran while moving his body & tail back and forth like an awkward snake through the dry leaves.  Indeed, he was so long, from a distance, he would have looked like a snake speeding through the leaves. Except that snakes don't make that much noise moving through dry leaves. His snake imitation must serve him well, as he has achieved considerable size indeed.  

This guy is most likely a San Diego Alligator Lizard (Elgaria multicarinata webbii).  According to California Herps, they are longest subspecies of Southern Alligator Lizard; 15" - 16" long lizards (nose to tail) are not unusual.

Alligator Lizards will bite to defend themselves.  It's best to look, but not touch.  Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Red Car Property: Not Earthworms

Photos: Jonathan Vandiveer, January 25, 2015. Vandiveer's son found 2 Slender Salamanders (Batrachoseps) under a rock at the India Street entrance to the Red Car Property. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

There are 21 species of Slender Salamanders listed on California Herps, an excellent source for identifying & learning more about reptiles & amphibians found in California.  These are likely Garden Slender Salamanders.  Vandiveer found a pair hiding under a pot his backyard a few years ago.

Slender Salamanders are terrestrial salamanders found under rocks, logs & leaf litter.   A "lungless salamander," they breathe through their skin & mouth tissues.  They are nocturnal, most often found in the daytime hiding under rocks in moist areas.  It was surprising to find these guys at India St, where the environment is more dry year round.  Usually they turn up in Red Car Canyon where it tends to be moist year-round.

Photo enlarged from previous photo.  Those are little tiny legs (arrows).  Slender Salamanders are the only species in California to have 4 toes instead of 5 (if you can get that close to count toes).

Also hiding under the rock (in the lower left corner of same photo) was a tiny pale spider. 

Learn more about Slender Salamanders: California Herps

Corralitas Drive: Fence Lizard

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 28, 2014.  I'm always impressed at how well-adapted Fence Lizards' camouflage is to their micro environments.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Learn how to identify California lizards: California Herps

Corralitas Public Staircase: Tiny Lizard

Photo: Diane Edwardson, July 13, 2014.  The tiniest little lizard (mostly likely a Fence Lizard) raced down the Corralitas Public Staircase before posing for a few photos.  It measured about 2" nose to tail.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Red Car Canyon: Lizard Standoff Interrupted

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 12, 2014.  Two (most likely male) lizards were posturing &  doing push-ups at one another on the well-tagged tree stump at the mouth of Red Car Canyon.  A squirrel alerted them to a nearby predator, breaking up the show of testosterone.  The arrow is pointing to the second lizard.  (Click on photo to enlarge.) 

Red Car Canyon: Fence Lizard With A Forked Tail

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 27, 2014.  Not only does this Western Fence Lizard  camouflage with the lichen on the concrete block in Red Car Canyon, he also has a forked tail.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

I wondered if the lizard had a run in with a predator so I asked Gary Nafis at California Herps about the unusual tail.  He responded, "The long part is the full tail because it has normal scales and pattern and the small part is regenerated, because it has no large scales. Maybe there was an injury to the tail that did not sever it but which triggered new growth from the point of injury. That's my best guess."

Learn more about identifying lizards: California Herps
 

Riverside Place: Camouflage

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, May 7, 2014. Vandiveer reports the 5" long (snout to tip of tail) lizard posed for just a sec, showing off his perfect color adaption to Vandiveer's patio.  

This appears to be a Fence Lizard. California Herps points out there are 6 recognized subspecies in California, based on geographic variation, but also 4 "clades" with 11 genetic groups.  It is a common lizard in Southern California but can have variations in appearance.

Click here for all our lizard posts.
 

Corralitas Drive: Stalker

Photo: Esteban Gonzalez, April 9, 2014.  Gonzalez found himself in the icy stare of an Alligator Lizard as he got out of his car.
 

Riverside Place: Ready For His Close-Up

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, March 27, 2014.  A visitor crawled into Vandiveer's studio yesterday.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Jonathan Vandiveer, March 27, 2014.  He estimated the Alligator Lizard at 6-8" long.

Looking at California Herps, it is most likely a male San Diego Alligator Lizard, common to Southern California. 

Learn more about identify Alligator Lizards: California Herps