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. 

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