Where the Wild Things Are

Something's got nature all stirred up. Perhaps it's global warming that has the area wildlife unsettled, or it could just be the normal wildland interface interactions we've seen before.

The Daily Bulletin has an article about a young bear that was captured in Upland Wednesday night. The bear had been seen earlier in Claremont, according to the Bulletin piece:

Claremont resident Whitney LoCicero said she took a photo of the bear in front of her house in the 700 block of Marlboro Court.

"It didn't scare me," LoCicero said. "Everyone else freaked out. But I was like 'Oh my god, he's so cute, I just want to pet him.'"

Then there was Courier's Tony Krickl, who blogged about the hawk that dived bombed him near the Metrolink parking lot in the Claremont Village. Krickl wrote that another hawk has been harrying visitors to the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens (does this make the bird a hawk or harrier?):

This morning a reader called in to warn that another hawk was attacking people in the Metrolink parking lot on First Street. I went down there with my camera to check it out. As I was walking through the parking lot looking for the culprit, I got slammed in the back of the head.

The hawk then landed in a nearby tree, waited for about a minute and took another swipe at me. This time I ducked out of its way, but I managed to get a couple photos in. Clearly pestered with my presence, the hawk swooped down a couple more times before I headed back to my car, tail between my legs.

Claremont police showed up at the Metrolink lot a short time later to see what they could do, if anything. Lieutenant Shelly Vander Veen told me that they might post a sign similar to what's at the Botanic Gardens: "Hawks Nesting Aggressive."

Krickl also had a bear-related post on Wednesday morning. The bear in question was spotted near Base Line Rd., according to Krickl. We don't know if this is the same bear that was captured later that day in Upland.

For folks living in a foothill community, these wildlife encounters are inevitable. We see them every year, from mountain lions to bears to coyotes. For bears, the enticement of trash day is irresistible. A reader sent us a photo of a bear they saw lunching casually in North Claremont:

April Quintet

A reader wrote in to ask if anyone else had noticed a bumper crop of hummingbirds this year. The reader sent along some photos and a link to some useful information from the Pomona Valley Audubon about the birds with tips for planting a hummingbird garden:

Hummingbirds are attracted to bright red or orange, tubular flowers. While the tubular shape compliments [sic] their bills, they also feed on other types of flowers, as well as other plants that may contain the insects that satisfy their fat and protein needs. They also have very fast metabolisms, and accordingly, need to feed continually during daylight hours. At night, they store food in their crops. While in the winter, or during cold weather, they can lower their metabolisms, and enter a temporary state of dormancy.

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Critter Meeting

The City of Claremont will be holding another informational meeting on how to live with the local wildlife. The City and the California Department of Fish and Game had a booth at the Sunday Farmers Market a couple weeks ago, and they're having another event next Thursday night at the City's Hughes Center.

The City, DFG, and the Humane Society will host the community meeting. The City's website gives all the info:

Community Meeting: Living with Wildlife

When: Thursday, February 19, 2009, 7 pm
Where: Alexander Hughes Community Center, Padua Room
Address: 1700 Danbury Rd., Claremont, 91711

The City of Claremont will hold a community meeting to provide information and dialogue on living with wildlife in Claremont. Representatives from the California Department of Fish and Game and the Inland Valley Humane Society will be on hand to provide information on how to peacefully co-exist with wildlife, such as coyotes, bears, raccoons, and other animals that live in and adjacent to our foothill community.

Farmers Market News

MEET OUR FAUNA

Claremont's city website announced that the City and the California Department of Fish and Game will have a joint booth (no, not medical marijuana-related) at today's downtown Farmers' Market on 2nd St east of Indian Hill Blvd.

The booth will be open from 8am to 1pm. Stop by and discover all sorts of facts about our four-footed friends, including coyotes and bears. And remember, keep your garbage secure. We don't want the wildlife getting habituated to people because then they become real nuisances requiring animal control measures.

This comes to us from the City's website:

Living with Wildlife in the Foothill Communities

The City of Claremont, in conjunction with the California Department of Fish and Game, will have an information booth at the Farmers & Artisans Market in Claremont on Sunday, February 1, 2009, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. City Council members, along with California Department of Fish and Game personnel, will be present with information and literature on learning to live with the various forms of wildlife (primarily coyotes and bears) that are in our foothill communities. If you have encountered coyotes and bears in your neighborhood, this information will be very helpful in learning how to handle these encounters. Also, learn methods you can use to discourage wildlife from venturing into your neighborhood and encourage wildlife to remain in the foothills and wilderness areas where they belong. The Farmers & Artisans Market is located on Second Street, between Indian Hill Boulevard and Yale Avenue.

For further information on living with wildlife, the California Department of Fish and Game has an excellent website at www.keepmewild.org

MEET OUR COUNCIL

And if you'd like to learn more about our two-footed friends, it's the first Sunday of the month, which means the City Council will be on hand in hour-long shifts at the Farmers Market today beginning at 8am:

Sunday, February 1, 2009
Talk With Council at the Farmers' Market

8:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Claremont Village
2nd Street between Indian Hill Boulevard and Yale Ave.
Claremont
(909) 399-5460

Talk with council members when they "set up shop" at the Claremont Farmers' Market, usually on the 1st Sunday of each month.

Claremont City News

The January/February 2009 issue of the Claremont City Letter came in the mail last week, chock-full of useful information.


OUR FRIEND THE COYOTE

The front page of the CCL has an article about living with coyotes that offered some tips for dealing with some of our four-legged friends, who have at one time or another been seen in every part of town.

The CCL piece reminded us of the 16mm Disney True-Life Adventure films they used to show to elementary school kids on those heavy guage steel Bell & Howell projectors. You can almost imagine Disney's narrator Winston Hibler reading the CCL writer's text:

Hardly any animal in America is more adaptable to changing conditions than the coyote. Coyotes can live just about anywhere. They are found in deserts, swamps, tundra, grasslands, brush, and dense forests, from below sea level to high mountains. They have also learned to live in suburbs and cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, Denver and Claremont. [Like the baby boomer, the coyote apparently favors the coasts, mountain states, and retirement communities. - ed.]

One of the keys to the coyote's success is its diet. A true scavenger, the coyote will eat just about anything. Identified as a killer of sheep, poultry and deer, the coyote will also eat snakes and foxes, doughnuts and sandwiches, rodents and rabbits, fruits and vegetables, birds, frogs, grass and grasshoppers, pet cats and cat food [sometimes in the same sitting, if the cat in question has recently dined], pet dogs and dog food [ibid.], carrion, and just plain garbage.

In short, the coyote is nearly as resourceful and adaptable as your average non-5C college freshman. Remember instant mac-and-cheese, anyone?


ELECTION NEWS

The CCL also has a list of important dates to keep in mind for the March 3rd General Municipal Election:

January 22 - February 10
Sample Ballots mailed to registered voters

February 2 - February 24
Voters may request absentee/vote by mail ballots

February 16 - Last date to register to vote*

MARCH 3 - ELECTION DAY
Polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

*Registration forms are available in English and in Spanish at City Hall, the Claremont Public Library, and the Claremont Post Office. For more information about elections and voter registration, contact the City Clerk's office at 909-399-5460 or visit the website of the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk at www.lavote.net

NEIGHBORHOOD FORUMS

CCL also reminds us there are two neighborhood forums coming up. At each there will be two City Councilmembers present along with a staff member or two. They will talk to you and hear whatever concerns you may have about your neighborhood or the city in general:

Tuesday, January 20th
South Claremont neighborhood forum at 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Blaisdell Center
440 S. College Ave.

Tuesday, February 17th
Claremont Village neighborhood forum at 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Claremont Public Library
208 Harvard Ave.

[From the city website]:

Neighborhood Forums give residents from different neighborhoods the opportunity to talk with City Council Members in a relaxed and informal setting. Neighborhoods can discuss issues that are important to them, air concerns, share ideas, ask questions and get the latest information about topics and projects that are specific to each neighborhood. Although forums are scheduled for specific neighborhoods, you do not have to live in that immediate area to attend.

Call (909) 399-5460 for information.

Good Walking Weather

Last week, before the snow really started to melt from the warmer weather, we took a hike up to Johnson's Pasture. Surprisingly, there weren't many people out, even though it was a sunny, weekend day. Snow still topped Ontario and Cucamonga Peaks, and you could see San Gorgornio way off in the hazy eastern blue distance. If you were in the right spot, you could see an even fainter San Jacinto out a little farther east and south.

(Click on Photos to Enlarge)

The trek isn't nearly so hard as some make it out to be, even if you start from the Wilderness Park entrance and hike up Burbank or Cobal Canyon. And, while it's true that most of the trees and other plant life aren't natives, it's still a nice walk, and you can even pack some bread and cheese for a picnic. The hills are just starting to green up and ought to look great come spring if we get a decent rainfall these next couple months.



We didn't see much in the way of wildlife. Sometimes you might see deer grazing on the grass in the eucalyptus stand, but we were probably out too late in the day for that. About the wildest life we saw were mountain bikers. Most of them were pretty considerate, but, out of about 20, there were two or three who seemed to be riding way too fast on the downslopes to be sharing the trail with people afoot.

And there was plenty of evidence of bikers going off trail, cutting their own paths straight down hillsides:


It doesn't look too bad at first, but after a full rainy season, those single-track trails start to get pretty eroded. It's a shame the few bikers who choose not to stick to the marked trails don't see just how much damage they can cause.

Those eroded trails can turn into some pretty ugly scars and never grow back right. The city doesn't really have the manpower to patrol or restore the single tracks, so the cuts just assume on a permanent presence, and more and more appear as bikers look for other hills to try. It's a kind of damage that few notice and fewer still want to take ownership of.

But complaints about a few inconsiderate bikers aside, the hiking was still nice: close, not too difficult, and full of great vistas. You could even see downtown Los Angeles way off to west of the Pasture, jutting up along the horizon like a clunky bar graph, just a little too far off and faint for my meager old camera to capture properly. You'll just have to take my word for it and use your imagination.

About Town

Glimpsed from afar:

A few weeks ago we were on a hike up by Palmer Canyon and caught a glimpse of a Great Egret perched atop a tall pine tree. It sat still there for a long while then suddenly spread its wings wide and sailed off along the foothills towards the San Antonio Dam.

Quite a majestic sight. Egrets. Who knew? You never know what you'll find out and about our town.

Sunday Crime Report

DEBIT CARD ID THEFT

A reader wrote in last night with an email about someone using her ATM information to take money from her B of A account. Nothing yet in the local papers. If you've had a similar problem, contact your bank and the local police to report the theft.

If you live in Claremont, the Claremont Police Department is located (for now) at 570 W. Bonita Ave. The non-emergency CPD contact number is 399-5411.

Here's our reader's note:

Not sure if this is newsworthy...

...but thought I'd pass it along. This week both my landlady and my friend were victims of ATM card identity theft and from their calls to Bank of America, it sounds like there was a pretty large organized hit that happened here.

Both of them have accounts at Bank of America, and both of them had their cards used at a Ventura ATM for multiple $500 withdrawals over several days (before they realized what was happening). When they called Bank of America, they heard that several people in La Verne and Claremont have been victimized, with ATM withdrawals in the same area, so it sounds like it was part of one big operation.

I'm not sure if this is useful news, beyond the obvious: everyone should keep an eye on their bank accounts looking for unusual activity. My landlady bought some groceries using her ATM card just before it happened, so she suspects the information needed to manufacture a duplicate ATM card might have been stolen there, but she doesn't know for sure.

Hope you're enjoying the lightning storm we're having tonight!

The reader also alluded to last night's electrical storm, which brought a little rain - about .2" between 8:40pm and 9:40pm, according to the weather monitoring station at the fire station near Mills Ave. and Mt. Baldy Rd.


DRUGS SEIZED DURING TRAFFIC STOP

The Daily Bulletin reports that Claremont police, with the help of an Upland PD drug-sniffing dog, found nearly $1 million in heroin and methamphetamine during a traffic stop on the eastbound 10 Freeway near Indian Hill Blvd. The Bulletin article stated:

Claremont police Sgt. Karlan Bennett would not elaborate on what made the officers call for a drug-sniffing dog.

Police found 6 pounds of methamphetamine and 15 pounds of heroin in a concealed compartment of the car.

Authorities estimate the value of the drugs at $900,000.

Bennett recalled a large cocaine bust within city limits about 12 years ago. That cocaine seizure was performed by a group of different law enforcement agencies.

"But for us this is one of the larger busts in the city," he said.

MOUNTAIN LION SIGHTED OFF MILLS AVE.

The CPD website also informs us that a mountain lion was seen in the backyards of some homes on the 1900 block of N. Mills Ave. in northeast Claremont. The cat was gone by the time CPD could respond and was not located.

CPD reminds us that mountain lions generally stay away from people and the department offers some tips for keeping safe when one is around:

Staying Safe in Mountain Lion Country

* Do not hike, bike, or jog alone.
* Avoid hiking or jogging when mountain lions are most active, and don't allow pets outside when mountain lions are most active --dawn, dusk, and at night.
* Don't leave small children or pets outside unattended.
* Install motion-sensitive lighting around the house.
* Bring pet food inside to avoid attracting raccoons, opossums and other potential mountain lion prey.
* Keep a close watch on small children.
* Do not approach a mountain lion.
* If you encounter a mountain lion, do not run; instead, face the animal, make noise and try to look bigger by waving your arms; throw rocks or other objects.
* If attacked, fight back.
* If a mountain lion attacks a person, immediately call 911.

CPD's site carries a link to a California Department of Fish and Game page that has information on mountain lions.

The Claremont Courier also carried a letter from David Null on the subject. Null suggested wearing a mask on the back of your head if you are hiking. He says this may fool the lion into thinking that you're watching it:

I have another suggestion: Mountain lions are ambush predators, stalking, then attacking from the rear onto the back of its prey, then delivering a suffocating neck bite. Tigers use a similar ambush technique and tigers, at least old or injured ones, frequently attack humans. For protection, it is not uncommon in India and Bangladesh for people in tiger country to wear human masks on the BACKS of their heads. That is the mask faces to the rear. This allegedly confuses the tiger who can’t decide which is the human’s back (remember ambush predators attack almost exclusive from the rear). In short, the tiger doesn’t know whether the human is coming or going and consequently his attack is deterred.

Wildlife

Bobcats below Palmer Canyon

(Click on photo to enlarge)

We decided to go on a hike last week and ended up driving to the Claremont Wilderness Park early in the morning before it got too hot. We ended up heading east towards Potato Mountain on the fire road at the water tank.

The vegetation seems to have recovered nicely from the fire in 2003, but was looking pretty dry. Coming down at Palmer Canyon, we were walking back to the Wilderness Park parking lot at Mills and Mt. Baldy Rd. and caught these two fellows cooling themselves in an olive tree near the Padua Hills Theater.

Nice to see there's still some wildlife around, even with all the new home construction in the area the past 20 years or so.

You can find some good San Gabriel Mountains hikes here if you're in the mood for a little local adventure.