Lookout Update 19-July to 31-July-2002

Hi folks,

Sorry for the lag in updates last week. I’ve been really busy and have only a small window of time each week for online duties. This email should get you all up to speed on the last two weeks of progress.

The weather out in Pozo has been sweltering, still, often hazy, and always buggy. My schedule, for the time being, has settled into a Friday through Weds. shift up on the mountain. I’m trying to remain flexible
and make sure I’m up there when the birds are moving. Speaking of moving birds, there have been several days worth of signals in the last two weeks. For more details on recent telemetry, check out the Hi Mountain
News page at http://www.calpoly.edu/~pandrean/himountain/news.html. So far, I have received signals for Ventana birds Or-208, Or-212, Or-199, B-171, B-170, B-164, B-165, Y-192, Y-194, and Y-190. On Friday July 27, I had my first sighting of 3 condors moving north along the southwestern edge of the La Panza Mtns! Frequent communication with the Hopper and Ventana field crews has mad the tracking much more interesting and fun. If the birds continue to move this summer, I am confident that the Hi Mountain Lookout will help us to better understand their flights, patterns of movement, and possibly roosting/foraging locations along the way.

Progress still continues to be made on the Lookout structure itself. We now have shutters and a front door and the final remodeling and installation stages will proceed through the next 2 weeks. We have a
work party happening at the Lookout tomorrow (Sat Aug. 3) which should be fun and productive. Other ongoing projects include Greg Frugoli’s design ideas for erosion control , revegetation, propagation of on site
natives and constant removal of the dreaded yellow star thistle. I think Greg has some good, common sense ideas. Now we just need to figure out how to keep the ORV’s out.

I have uploaded several photos to the Lookout photo archive at
http://www.calpoly.edu/~pandrean/himountain/photo_archive.html

Also, check out the collection of condor images made available to us from Nick Todd/USFWS. Most are photos shot at Hopper by Nick. Others were shot by Dave Clendenen/USFWS. You can see Nick’s photos at http://www.calpoly.edu/~pandrean/himountain/nics_pics.html

I guess that’s all for now. Thanks for your interest and please come on up and visit me some time!
If you’re interested, volunteers will be meeting @ Pozo Station to carpool up the hill at 0830 sharp. Bring gloves, food, water, and sunscreen. You are of course welcome to spend the night.

Cheers,
Paul Andreano