Is Barham Blvd. a Popular Wildlife Crossing?
Monday, April 2, 2012 at 6:34PM As part of our Griffith Park Connectivity study, my collaborators and I recently decided to seek out new crossings to monitor. We are still awaiting permission to post some cameras at crossings along the 5 and 134 freeways on the east side of Griffith Park. Meanwhile, I placed a new camera on the east side of Barham Blvd. and immediately got some great photos of wildlife actively heading towards Barham Blvd. For those of you that aren't familiar with this area- it is VERY urban Los Angeles, and this potential wildlife crossing we are interested in happens to be right next to Universal Studios in Hollywood. This area also abuts the 101-freeway- a major 8-10 lane freeway the bisects Hollywood. So, we were very surprised to find one of our radiocollared bobcats using a little patch of habitat that likely required he cross Barham Blvd. to get there. The GPS-collared bobcat was triangulated near Barham Blvd. so this may be a potential crossing location. The west side of Barham leads to Universal Studios property. We can not confirm whether the animals are crossing until we are able to put a camera on the other side but there is strong indication that they are heading that way. The photos below show coyotes and deer going in and out of open space on the east side of Barham towards Barham Blvd. Recently, there were deer sighted by residents that live near the camera so I was happy to get some deer in my camera trap. Although the hole in the fence seems too low for deer to cross through, they clearly aren't deterred.
Reader Comments (5)
In the night one thing I observed i.e the eyes of the wild animals they glitters. See in the above picture you will get a better idea how it looks.
Nice posting! I do scared to go on night wildlife safari as the animals looks so scary and there glittering eyes makes me more scared.
Exhibit Consultant
Great information! Wildlife in night looks thrilling, great pics.Thanks for sharing such good stuff.
I found this blog posting because I was curious about wild animals crossing Barham Blvd. Driving over the hill last night I saw that a huge buck had gotten hit crossing the road. I have also seen coyote stuck on the bridle trail between the 134 and the LA River. I hope the animals stay safe!
Hey Resa (author of comment above)-
That's super interesting that you made these observations. It's great to have folks report these observations since scientists interested in the impacts of urbanization on wildlife are unable to be everywhere at once. It's also great to hear you taking an interest in the local wildlife.
Laurel