Red Car Property: Tracking Birds Near India St

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, july 25, 2016.  Either a very large bird or a little dinosaur walked around the Red Car Property near India Street early Monday morning. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

I immediately thought Great Blue Heron or Egret since India St is not far from the LA RIver and we always see Great Blue Herons fly between the river and the Silver Lake Reservoir. 

Photo: Gary Vahakis, July 25, 2016 (enlarged from the first photo above).  Some of the rear facing toes are not as long as they appear to be, some of the prints seem to include the lower part of the bird's leg, expanding back from the first 3 toes.  (For scale, that's Vlahakis' foot. He is about 6'3" tall.) 
 

LA River: Elysian Valley Footprints

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 27, 2010. Heron, raccoon, skunk, cat, dog and human walked here. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Red Car Property: Name That Scat

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 21, 2010. Wild animal scat near the Adelbert cut through from the Red Car Property. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

How do you know it's from a wild animal? It is in the middle of a trail, and it doesn't look like the animal stopped as it was a trail of poop. Domestic dogs and cats tend to stop and move over to the side of the road. It didn't look large enough to be from a coyote. There were no discernible tracks nearby.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 21, 2010. Same pile, different angle. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Why should you care? Developers like to think the animals we have in the neighborhood are just standard urban wildlife. While raccoons, skunks and coyotes are expected in this neighborhood; gray fox and bobcats do live in the area, but are rarely seen, much less photographed.

If you know what animal left this behind, send us an email: redcarproperty@gmail.com.

Red Car Canyon Lake: Late Cretaceous

Photo: Diane Edwardson. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Giant crocodiles (Deinosuchus) ruled the Red Car Property in the Late Cretaceous, 70 - 80 million years ago. The 30 - 40 foot long crocs hunted prey as large as themselves, including relatives of T.Rex. The Red Car Property was a swamp on the banks of the then mile-wide LA River.
Photo: Diane Edwardson. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The supersized crocs, like their present-day relatives, were opportunistic feeders, preying on dinosaurs trapped in the mud of Red Car Canyon Swamp, now the site of Red Car Canyon Lake.

Recent footprints indicate smaller relatives of Deinosuchus still prowl the banks of Red Car Canyon Lake. Be careful after dark and keep your dogs on a leash!
Photo: Diane Edwardson, March 31, 2010. Footprints on banks of Red Car Canyon Lake. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Disclaimer: This post should not be used as proof of anything more than April Foolishness. However, the footprints are real, most likely made by a raccoon; giant crocodiles roamed North America in the Late Cretaceous, read about them on National Geographic.

Stalking Littlefoot

Photo: Diane Edwardson, August 18, 2009. 4" long Littlefoot print just north of the India St. entrance to the Red Car Property. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Click here for more on Littlefoot.

Semi Tropic Leftovers

Photo: Lucinda Inganni, July 16, 2009. Lucinda & her dogs found a small pile of fur and possibly a bone from a pelvis in the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Lucinda Inganni, July 16, 2009. Could be skunk or more likely, raccoon, since it didn't smell like skunk.

Send your neighborhood wildlife photos or video to redcarproperty@gmail.com.

Littlefoot Prowls Red Car Property

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 30, 2009, 8:08 AM. Fresh 3 inch long footprints just north of India St. entrance to the Red Car Property. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

The Pacific Northwest has Bigfoot. The Corralitas Red Car Property has Littlefoot. The prints are possibly skunk, raccoon or opossum. Or, perhaps it's a small mutant hominid covered in fur: Littlefoot.

Littlefoot lurks in the shadows of the Red Car Property, venturing out at night and the early morning hours, foraging in bushes and around trashcans. A few minutes later, all evidence of Littlefoot was obliterated by the next truck driving onto the property. Littlefoot prints should not be confused with domestic dog footprints, below.

UPDATE July 10, 2009: A Red Car Property neighbor who also is a LA Zoo keeper thinks Littlefoot is a raccoon.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 30, 2009. Dog footprint near India St. (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 30, 2009. Bird footprints near India St. Red Car Property. (Click on photo to enlarge.)