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On a Wing and a Prayer

Black-hooded Parakeets in Western Sycamore, King Gillette Ranch, Santa Monica Mountains NRA (11/24/18) Kathy Jonokuchi

The recent Woolsey Fire incinerated 86% of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. In some areas, only a wing and a prayer avoided the devastation.

Black-hooded Parakeets (Nanday Conures – Aratinga nenday) were able to fly away as the fire raged. Southern California color spotter, Kathy Jonokuchi found them perched on Western sycamore at King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas on Saturday.

The ranch, once owned by razor magnate King C. Gillette was spared being engulfed by the fire. Its grounds and venerable trees are now an enclave for the Nandays.

Raindrops on a Sweetgum leaf, Los Angeles (11/24/18) Bruce Wendler

Jonokuchi reported that the ranch was one of the few spared by the Woolsey Fire. “Paramount Ranch, Peter Strauss Ranch and Malibu Creek State Park” were burned. The fire even scorched Leo Carrillo State Beach, leaving only lifeguard towers unburned.

Her home, just four miles from where the Hill Fire started, was untouched. Kathy said her neighborhood was the only one in the area that wasn’t evacuated, though surrounding mountains are now covered in gray ash, brightened by a few spots by splashes of bright pink fire retardant and remaining autumn color.

Rains this weekend dampened the southland, as seen in Bruce Wendler’s image of a Sweetgum leaf on the hood of his car. 

  • King Gillette Ranch, Santa Monica Mountains NRA – Peak (75-100%) GO NOW!
Leo Carrillo State Beach, Malibu (11/24/18) Kathy Jonokuchi