Created in memory of the late conservationist Steve Irwin, Sunday’s National Wildlife Day encourages education about our world’s animals and celebrates those who work to protect them. Although you can always see LA’s most iconic animals at a wildlife sanctuary, it’s a thrill to see them out on the trail. For The Wild this week, I’ve rounded up five hikes for animal watching. Bring a pair of binoculars.
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A couple of notes: I’ve included only creatures we’d hope to encounter (sorry, mountain lions and black bears) and those we don’t see too often in our neighborhoods (I’m looking at you, coyotes and raccoons) . So, it’s always important to keep your distance and stay quiet and on the trail. Leave no trace and make some space.
And if you choose to go outside this weekend during the heat wave, make sure to take extra precautions and limit your time under the sun (especially if you’re with your canine companion). Enjoy these hikes safely and with plenty of water, sun protection and respect for the wildlife. This is their home too, after all.
The animal: Great blue heron
The hike: LA River Walk, Elysian Valley
Happily for birdwatchers, there are an amazing number of spots across the city to check out our resident waterfowl. We’re lucky to have an incredible array — coots, cormorants, geese, stilts, snowy egrets, even mandarin ducks — near our urban trails. But there is one that particularly embodies LA: the great blue heron. There are plenty of great environments to spy some of these majestic beauties (El Dorado Regional Park in Long Beach or wetlands like Ballona, Bolsa Chica and Dominguez Gap), but the Elysian Valley is the ideal place. The bird is essentially the LA River mascot.
Start at Rattlesnake Park, where you’ll pass through the Great Heron Gates before hitting the LA River bike path. Walk or bike (or even kayak) for as long as you please, but a nice, short two-mile route includes a turnaround point at Spoke Bicycle Cafe. Be sure to look to the river to find great blue herons stalking silently for prey or soaring gracefully overhead.
The animal: Red-tailed hawk
The hike: Ernest E. Debs Regional Park, Montecito Heights
Though there are plenty of hikes to watch soaring red-tailed hawks in and around Los Angeles, I must give a special mention to Audubon Center at Debs Park. You can learn from docents, borrow binoculars or even attend a community bird walk to search for its more than 140 winged residents, from more familiar avian friends, such as scrub jays, to the lesser-seen ones, such as great horned owls.
Get some birding tips from the Audubon before following your trail map along the five-mile highlight loop or a shorter 2.2-mile park-to-park stroll. Either way, search the skies for circling red-tailed hawks, who conserve energy and gain altitude through rising columns of air (thermals), before diving acrobatically to swoop on an unsuspecting iconic SoCal prey, like the California ground squirrel.
The animal: Bobcat
The hike: Bear Canyon, Angeles National Forest
The Bear Canyon to Switzer Falls route is perhaps the most popular trail in the Angeles National Forest and rightly so — it’s shady, not too strenuous and features a 50-foot cascade and pools to swim in. And for whatever reason, it’s also the only one place I have seen a bobcat (twice!) in over a decade of hiking in LA To increase your chances of catching one of the shy felines grabbing a morning drink at the river, get there super early and trek quietly. I like doing a slightly longer seven-mile trek that starts at Switzer Picnic Area and reaches Bear Canyon Trail Camp, where you can stay the night and have more time to enjoy the local scenery and wildlife.
The animal: Mule deer
The hike: Old Zoo to Bee Rock, Griffith Park
Named for its ears that resemble those of a — you guessed it — mule, the brownish-gray herbivores can be spotted all around Griffith Park. I like searching for them on the eastern side of the park. The urban crepuscular mammals often grace on the fairways of the Wilson and Harding golf courses (try sunrise or sunset), and doing a hike across the street starting at the Old Zoo Picnic Area seems appropriate for a wildlife walk. If you prefer a bit of elevation, consider taking a 2.6-mile loop to Bee Rock (though the peak closes for falcon nesting in summer), otherwise the Mineral Wells trail takes you north toward Amir’s Garden and you can find Fern Canyon to the south , all the while looking for our deer friends.
The animal: California Newt
The hike: Grotto Trail, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
Circle X Ranch is known as the home to the landmark Sandstone Peak, but it’s also got the three-mile out-and-back Grotto trail, which you’ll prefer in the summer heat. Here, you can also find the orange-bellied, endemic California Newt. While it spends spring and winter in water, it’s often found in moist, shaded areas in the summer. Just keep an eye on the kids — they may get excited seeing the neurotoxic salamanders, but as always, keep your distance.
5 things to do this week
Help support native plant restoration with the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy at Alta Vicente Reserve.
(PVP Land Conservancy)
1. Help restore native vegetation at the Alta Vicente Reserve in Ranchos Palos Verdes. On Saturday from 9 am to noon, volunteer with the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy and support habitat restoration for cactus wrens and California gnatcatchers. Register here. Consider also exploring the coastal sage scrub environment through a small trail system that features prickly pear cacti, WWII installations and unparalleled views of Catalina Island.
Explore Mt. San Jacinto State Park at 8500 feet with a volunteer guide.
(Matt Pawlik; Palm Springs Aerial Tramway
)
2. Enjoy a guided nature walk with volunteers at Mount San Jacinto State Park. This weekend — Saturday and Sunday at 11 am and 1:30 pm — is your last chance of the season to experience a docent-led hike from the tram’s Mountain Station. The 11 am tour visits the 1.5-mile Desert View Trail which, not surprisingly, features phenomenal vistas of the desert below, and the 1:30 pm traverses the 0.75-mile Long Valley Nature Trail loop. If you seek more mileage, consider the area’s other awesome hike adventures.
The Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture is celebrating its 28th year with awesome food and entertainment.
(Florante Ibanez)
3. Experience the 28th annual Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture (FPAC) at MacArthur Park. Presented by FilAm ARTS, check out FPAC on Saturday from 4 to 10 pm at MacArthur Park’s Levitt Pavilion. It’s the first in-person celebration since 2017 and features live performances, Filipino food booths, storytelling, art exhibits and more. Register here.
Cyclists enjoy the 2021 festival during an artist-led mural bike ride.
(Adrián Gutiérrez-Monge)
4. Check out at the international mural festival in Long Beach. Through Monday, the coastal city hosts “Stand Up!,” an expansive free outdoor art festival with Long Beach Walls and Art Renzei. Grab your digital passport, explore the featured murals and attend one of many events, from a mural bike ride or the closing party with KCRW Summer Nights. For more murals, I curated a route through Long Beach’s Cambodia Town that also includes a classic beach walk.
Meet and learn about the animals of the epic Placerita Canyon Natural Area.
(Matt Pawlik)
5. Learn about local wildlife in animal-abundant activities at the Placerita Canyon Natural Area. Located in Newhall on the western edge of the San Gabriels, the huge green space features a multitude of hikes through chaparral hillsides, oak woodlands and riparian environments. It’s also got fantastic naturalist-led interpretive programs. On Saturday, check out three of them in the nature center, including an 8 am bird walk and a 10 am Animal Show, where visitors can meet and learn all about the park’s animal ambassadors!
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Wild things
The PVPLC conservation director waters a narrowleaf milkweed on the site of the new 96-acre wildlife corridor after the campaign kick-off event.
(Matt Pawlik)
“1…2…3, blue butterflies!” Cameras snapped as a proud peninsula partnership celebrated the announcement of the “Go Wild for the Peninsula” campaign, funding the creation of a 96-acre Wildlife Corridor that will restore native flora, reduce fire risk and protect local fauna like the cactus wren, California gnatcatcher and the endangered Palos Verdes blue butterfly.
I attended the kickoff event led by the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, with support from the city of Rancho Palos Verdes, the LA County Regional Park and Open Space District and both US and California departments of Fish and Wildlife — all entities have contributed $19.7 million of the $30-million goal to preserve this important stretch of coastal land.
“It really is the missing puzzle piece for the Palos Verdes blue,” PVPLC Conservation Director Cris Sarabia told me as he poured recycled water on a narrowleaf milkweed (an important plant for resident Monarch butterflies) after the event. The plan for this important coastal connector is to remove fire-risk invasives (acacia, fennel and those pesky yellow mustards) and replace them with drought-tolerant natives, like rattlepod, which Palos Verdes blue butterflies rely on to survive. PV blues may claim the “world’s rarest butterfly” title, but the opportunity for such a passionate partnership to preserve such a significant coastal corridor is truly special.
cool stuff
Find new fitness friends in active communities, from hiking to yoga to beach tennis, across LA.
(actlive)
Looking for a pickleball partner or basketball buddy? Find all types of fitness friends through a new social app that “helps connect people to the activities they love.” After their lifestyles had less and less time for the active experiences they loved, founders Cody and Connor decided to restore the balance between work and play. With actLive, they hope to inspire people to get active outdoors and encourage community building among those who share the same passions. The app launched last month in SoCal and has a growing number of events across LA
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Mountain lion P-90 was struck and killed by a vehicle Friday morning on Highway 33 south of Ojai, weeks after his brother was killed on the 101 Freeway in the west San Fernando Valley.
(Jeff Sikich / National Park Service)
Unfortunately, just one month after P-89 was struck and killed along the 101, his mountain lion brother, P-90, suffered the same fate along the CA-33 in Ojai, Times writer Christian Martinez reported. Last Friday, the 2-year-old puma, who had been called a “trailblazer” because of his multiple freeway crossings, which was celebrated for his travels, as it helps diversify the gene pool.
The young mountain lion became the seventh to be killed this year in a “road mortality” in the National Park Service’s study area, which spans the Santa Monica Mountains, Simi Hills, Griffith Park and the Santa Susana and Verdugo mountains. The Liberty Canyon wildlife bridge is expected to be completed in 2025, but until then we’ll have to do our best to spot these crossing cougars.
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