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: Pink Clouds, Power Lines, Palm Trees, Plane

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 17, 2017.  The title pretty much says it all. 

Stay calm, however you travel over Thanksgiving weekend.

Corralitas Drive: Scenic Sunrise

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 16, 2017.  Damn power line.  Enough said.

Red Car Property: Brush Clearance Resumed Today

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor,  August 30, 2017.  Workers took a break from the insane heat and brush clearance on the slope below Lake View Ave, in the shade of a protected Native Black Walnut Tree.  It's hard to tell in this photo, but it looks like some more of the recovering Black Walnuts were chopped yet again.  

The Red Car Property line goes, roughly, along the power lines. 

Note: We're playing catch up for the month of August. This was post was actually published 8-31-17 and backdated to the date the photo was shot and originally published on Twitter.  It's our goal to catch up this weekend. 

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.

Red Car Property: Why We Bitch About Brush Clearance

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor June 6, 2017.  Aside from the potential risk of fire fueled by dry weeds and  unrestricted vehicle access to the Red Car Property, there are other risks both on the Red Car Property and adjacent lots.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

 1. Several adjacent Lake View Ave, Silver Ridge Ave and Corralitas Drive neighbors have failed to do their brush clearance.  There is a large Castor Bean forest growing on one Lake View Ave lot.  Castor Bean Plants are non-native, highly invasive.  All parts of the plant are extremely toxic and emit a toxic gas when burned (Ricin).  Castor Beans will take over entire hillsides, quickly crowding out any native species.  

The power lines in the middle of the slope run along the property line between the Red Car Property and adjacent Lake View and Silver Ridge lots.

2. At least one telephone pole (see arrow in photo above) appears bowed or bent.  With fires in 2014 and 2016, neighbors wonder if the pole has been weakened and needs replacing. 

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, July 16, 2016.  Several neighbors spent months after the 2016 fire getting the runaround from DWP and AT&T regarding the status of the pole.  Nothing ever seems to have been resolved.

3. There are several large dead and dying trees near the power lines including what's left of one pine tree leaning at a 45 degree angle (see first photo).  The trees appear to be on the adjacent Lake View lots.  In April, DWP contractors trimmed trees under and within 10' of the high voltage lines in the Red Car Canyon.  However, Eucalyptus can collapse months after the rainy season, usually in July and August.  At least one of the two big dead trees on the slope is Eucalyptus and perilously close to a telephone pole that has a transformer on top (see first photo). 

The first photo does show one positive thing.  The protected native Black Walnuts and Coast Live Oak, along with other large trees are recovering from the 2016 Silver Lake Fire.

Red Car Property: Dry Brush

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, May 5, 2017.  The good news is some of the big trees are recovering after the 2016 fire.  Bad news: dry brush is more dense than a year ago.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, May 12, 2017.  Some upslope neighbors did their brush clearance by May 1.  Understandably, it appears at least one went overboard clearing well past the property line.  (The power lines, halfway up the hill, are at the property line to the Red Car Property.)  Many of the protected native Black Walnuts and Coast Live Oaks are recovering from last year's fire, including trees LAFD's contractors cut down (that were not dead) 6 months after the fire. 

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, May 12, 2017.  A relatively small tree that did not recover from the fire and CalTrans' subsequent butchery, is still partially blocking Corralitas Walk, a public sidewalk between Corralitas Drive and Allesandro Way and Lake View Ave.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, May 5, 2017.  The dead tree still had its crown a week earlier.  Ironically, May 8, three days after this photo was taken, CalTrans sent me email confirmation that the fence had been fixed here on a complaint I'd made November 3, 2016, regarding fence damage between Rosebud/Corralitas and Allesandro Way/Lake View Ave.  I guess if they can't see it from their trucks, the problem doesn't exist.

Red Car Canyon: DWP Contractor Trimming Trees Near Power Lines

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, April 28, 2017.  This morning, tree trimmers were working in Red Car Canyon.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, April 28, 2017.  It appears they were only trimming trees on the Lake View side up at the power lines, which is also the property line.  I confirmed by phone with Pacific Coast Tree Contractors that they were doing work in the area for the DWP today.  They've trimmed trees around the power lines on the Red Car Property for the DWP, for many years.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, April 28, 2017.  There has been no effort to clear brush on the Red Car Property.  Red Car Canyon is where LAFD and their partner agencies put a stop to last June's Silver Lake Fire.  It burned right up to adjacent homes on the west side of the property.  The property was not cleared of remaining brush and dead trees until the following December.

The May 1st deadline for brush clearance is Monday.  There has been no effort to clear brush on the Red Car Property.

Red Car Property: Dead Eucalyptus & Dry Brush On Lot C, Adjacent Streets

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016. We documented the quick demise of the huge Eucalyptus on the  upper part of the slope in 2015.  It's in an Adelbert backyard, adjacent to the Red Car Property.  The lower dead Eucalyptus died a few months later.  It's on the Red Car Property.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Photo: Diane Edwardson, October 8, 2016.  A third and even larger Eucalyptus died this year within the Silver Lake Court, a public right-of-way.   High voltage lines appear to pass through the Eucalyptus adjacent to the dead tree.  A City crew cleared brush from the paper street months ago, but left the tree.

Silver Lake Court is a City "paper street," west of and adjacent to the Red Car Property.  Worth noting, in the 2003, failed 75 home development application for the Red Car Property, this was identified as the "open space lot."  The open space lot included the slope contained by a giant retaining wall.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 16, 2016.  The stand of dead trees is on the Red Car Property's Lot C, at India Street.  They are directly below power lines.  The trees died in 2013.  We don't know why this is acceptable to LAFD Brush Unit or LADWP.  We submit photos of them every year to the Brush Unit.  

During the June 19, 2016 Silver Lake Fire, neighbors on Roselin, and Riverside Dr, upslope from this location, witnessed 6 - 8" burning embers flying by their houses.

As of today, neighbors report no brush clearance has occurred on the Red Car Property, other than the previously mentioned clearance around the construction fence.  One neighbor reported seeing a LAFD Fire Marshall drive in and out of the property north of India Street yesterday.

Red Car Property & Adjacent Lots: Trees Not Looking Good 3 Weeks After Silver Lake Fire

Photo: Gary Vlahakis, July 9, 2016.  Do you know where your property lines are?  The entire neighborhood is still at risk from the now dry trees on and adjacent to the Red Car Property and the 2 Freeway.  Scroll down to the last photo for what this scene looked like before the June 19, 2016, Silver Lake Fire.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 20, 2016.  A day after the fire, it just looked like too good a job of brush clearance was done on the slope as the ash washed away by the sheer volume of water that was poured on site to keep flare ups at bay.

The non-native pine, palm and eucalyptus trees did not fare well.  However there was hope since the native Coast Live Oak, Black Walnut and even Blue Elderberries as well as even some of the hardier non-natives still had a lot of green leaves on their branches the next day. 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, June 19, 2016.  When the smoke cleared you could see daylight through trees where you'd never seen it before.  After the fire was out, everyone was just grateful to still have homes on Lake View, Silver Ridge, Riverside Place and Corralitas Drive. 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, May 21, 2016.  As we've now seen, failure to do brush clearance puts the entire neighborhood at risk.  There's a reason the LAFD calls it the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone (VHFHSZ).  Seriously, brush clearance is not just about clearing the dry grass.  It's about trimming the trees up from the ground and proximity of shrubs to combustible structures like wooden fences and sheds. 

Have your  trees assessed by a certified arborist.  Since the trees did not initially burn in the fire, at least the native Coast Live Oaks and California Black Walnuts should survive.  We just need to manage the trees responsibly, so we don't have increased fire risk and we don't cause more harm to the trees while they recover.  This was not a major wildland forest fire.  After the last fire in 2014, the Black Walnuts were regenerating. Native trees evolved with our drought/fire/deluge seasons. I am not a tree expert.  You should consult one with a knowledge of fire ecology of native trees.  

Links to post-fire recovery of native trees: 
US Forest Service - Coast Live Oak
UC California - Oak Woodland Management
US Forest Service - CA Black Walnut

We'll be looking at more depressing before/after photos of dry trees in the Silver Lake Fire burn area in the coming days.

Sunset Over Loma Vista, Lights Not Quite Out On 2015

*Stuff you missed this year...

Photo: Diane Edwardson, December 11, 2015.  We've still got a backlog of photos from 2015 that we'll continue using.  It's been a busy year.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

*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.

Silver Lake Court: Dead Eucalyptus In Power Lines

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 15, 2015.  The most recent dead Eucalyptus above the Red Car Property, may either be on private property for an adjacent home or the paper street of Silver Lake Court.  Either way, it is up against the power lines and should be removed.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Click here for all our dead tree posts.

Red Car Property: Tree Work Ahead

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #2, November 7, 2015.  According to the tree trimmers on the Red Car Property this morning, they were DWP contractors trimming back trees near the power lines on the Lake View side.

The DWP website says there's supposed to be 4' of clearance between trees and high voltage power lines in high fire danger areas (that would be us - the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone).  DO NOT attempt to trim the trees yourself.  Call 1-800-DIAL-DWP or use the City's 311 link to the DWP website for more information on their tree trimming program.

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor #1, November 6, 2015.  Yesterday, a chipper was parked in Red Car Canyon.  A neighbor on Silver Ridge, directly adjacent to the Red Car Property, said they received notice from the DWP that tree trimmers would be trimming trees around the power lines on the slope below their house this week. 

DWP tree trimmers were out at about the same time last year.  

It might be a good time to consider thinning your trees before another Santa Ana Wind event.  With monster El Nino rains predicted, you should definitely be looking at your Eucalyptus trees.  Consider thinning the branches out, and cutting down the dead Eucalyptus.
 

Red Car Property: Predictable Mudslides, Stormdrains & El Niño Preparedness

Photo: Diane Edwardson, February 2005.  Whenever we have big rain years, the Red Car Property slopes at the Corralitas end, have mudslides where earth was removed to build the 2 Freeway (1960 - 1962).

Photo: Diane Edwardson, December 21, 2010.  The Red Car Property goes up to the power lines.  The Red Car Property "meadow" is also a handy catch basin for  stormwater run-off.  Additionally,  stormdrains run down the side of the 2 Freeway, as well as through the Red Car Property, from the very steep hills going up to Lake View and Silver Ridge.  

Why we're not on anyone's radar for a stormwater management project must be because of the morass of City, County and CalTrans (State) stormdrains in the area not being together on one map.  (CalTrans is not exactly known for cooperating with other agencies or neighbors.)  We've talked about the Red Car Property's potential as a stormwater project to anyone who would listen for many years. 

A host of City departments are hosting an El Niño Town Hall TONIGHT:

City of LA El Niño Town Hall

Thursday, November 5, 2015 

6:30 - 8:30 PM

Glassell Senior Center 

3750 Verdugo Road 

Los Angeles, CA 90065

Riverside Drive: Silver Lake Neighborhood Council Wants To Clean It UpMeeting Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 1, 2014.  The intersection of Riverside & Fletcher is a major commuter corridor as well as a designated secondary & scenic highway in the Silver Lake - Echo Park - Elysian Valley Community Plan.  (Click on  photos to enlarge.)

Looking back through years of my archive photos, the businesses along Riverside Drive keep their sidewalks clean.  However, both gas stations tend to ignore their rear & side walls which frequently sport graffiti for months until neighbors complain enough to the owners to get it painted out.  The historic landmark Pacific Electric Red Car Viaduct Footings are not included in the clean-up plans as they are on private property.

Silver Lake Neighborhood Council's (SLNC) Green Committee will devote a good portion of Tuesday's meeting to discussion of the issue of cleaning up Riverside Drive between Fletcher & Allesandro Elementary School.  (At one meeting last year they actually discussed the possibility of putting luminarias on the viaduct footings.)  

We'd like to bring up a few questions & encourage neighbors to attend Tuesday's meeting, since so many of us drive through Riverside Drive just to get to our homes on a daily basis.

Photo: Diane Edwardson September 6, 2014.  One of the problems is there are so few homes along Riverside Drive that are owner occupied.  Most are rental homes.   Many Riverside Drive residents south of Gilroy, park on the Red Car Property rather than Riverside Drive to reach their homes.  Bordered on one side by the 5 Freeway, Riverside Drive is a very dark street at night, making it easy to dump bulky items.  Many residents, myself included, witnessed the City recycle & trash trucks speed through pick up so fast they spew the trash all over the street & sidewalk on a regular basis.

Photo: Diane Edwardson September 6, 2014.  Riverside Drive at Clearwater has a bunch of vacant lots (where the new owner illegally cut down native trees last summer).  

We should be asking, why the sudden interest in cleaning up this portion of Riverside Drive?  Gentrification in Elysian Valley is exploding with way out-of-scale development & real estate speculation along the LA River.  If speculators want Riverside Drive cleaned up - they should be paying for it.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, August 17, 2014.  Clearwater Street at Riverside Drive has long been a dumping ground.  

Perhaps we should be hitting up CalTrans to take responsibility for picking up the garbage & bulky items dumped on their side of the street on a regular basis. Team Mitch, from our City Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell's office, has been cleaning up the area for about a year.  No sooner than it's cleaned up, another load of dumping appears.

Yes, Riverside Drive should be cleaned up.  The SLNC wants to raise money from residents & businesses to pay someone to clean it up on a bimonthly schedule.  However, you should question how the funds will be collected from residents & business owners.  Who will  keep the payment records?  How can the public access those records?   

Attend the SLNC Green Committee Meeting

Tuesday January 20, 2014

7-9 PM

Citibank Community Room

2450 Glendale Blvd

Los Angeles, CA  90039

Corralitas Drive: Cotton Candy Clouds

Photo: Diane Edwardson, November 22, 2014.  Sunset was particularly cotton candy-esque over Corralitas Drive Saturday.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

Red Car Property: India Street, Blue Sky, Power Lines, Open Gate

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, November 21, 2014.  Fall landscape, looking east from the Red Car Property on India St.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

IT Came From The LA River, Happy Halloween!

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 30, 2014.  Perhaps that water isn't as clean as they would have you believe. (Click on photo to enlarge.) 

Have a safe Halloween.  Slow down while driving our neighborhood tonight, there are a lot of young kids in the neighborhood.

Red Car Property: DWP Contractor Trimming Trees In Neighborhood

Photo: Red Car Property Neighbor, October 28, 2014.  DWP tree contractors are trimming trees growing into the high voltage power lines (the uppermost utility lines on the telephone poles).  Tuesday, they were seen working in Red Car Canyon.  (Click on photo to enlarge.)

A month ago, I ran into the supervisor on the Red Car Property.  He was prioritizing trees in the area.  He said they'd be in the neighborhood for a few weeks.  He was well aware of the Red Car Property as he'd been working this neighborhood for the past 10 years.  I reminded him of the 2011 windstorm that brought down so many trees in the canyon.

Red Car Property: Classic Red Tailed Hawk Hunting Technique On Corralitas

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 30, 2014.  A big Red Tailed Hawk was perched atop the telephone pole at the Corralitas end of the Red Car Property.  (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Sun at her back, she was watching for squirrels in the protected  Southern California Black Walnut Trees & the ground surrounding them, from her telephone pole.  

Photo: Diane Edwardson, September 30, 2014.  Red Tailed Hawks have extraordinary eyesight.  This one was grooming, pulling foxtails out of her feathers (see first photo - there's one sticking out of the chest feathers) yet alert to any movement on the hillside that might be breakfast. Her head would suddenly snap to a squirrel or other rodent moving on the hill.  

Any prey might not see her atop the pole with the sun at her back.  And she would gain a few seconds of surprise on her potential meal as they were temporarily blinded by the sun.  

Come back tomorrow to see if she was successful.