Update from the Lookout 31-Aug to 17-Sept-2002

Greetings everyone,

Its been a while since I last posted and so much has happened I’m not sure what
I should relay. I’m sure by now you’ve read of my north county adventures this
week, getting good looks at Or-212, Y-190, and Or-209 on Tues Sept 16 in
Atascadero. I must say, its about time I finally got to see these guys over SLO
Co. I spent this afternoon uploading my telemetry notes to the website, and if
you read through the recent telemetry data posted at http://
www.condorlookout.org/news.html , you’ll understand just how frequently I’ve
been tracking these birds over the north county lately. I think the total
number of condor visuals from the Lookout this summer is currently somewhere in
the neighborhood of 9 or 10 birds.

Aside from condor telemetry, which there has been LOTS of lately, the last few
weeks were rich with forward progression of the Hi Mountain Lookout Project. I
have had the pleasure of many visits from USFS and USFWS personal, each one
bringing with it a new coat of paint, more water for the tank, a sign or two,
words of encouragement, juice and water, or at least a good story over coffee.
Visitors continue to drop in, ranging from hunters to mtn bikers to families
with kids. I’m thinking that the Visitor Center will prove to be a valuable
educational facility when completed, given the surprising number of weekend drop
ins. With a new ceiling and shudders all the way around, little work is left to
do on the building itself and it should be in perfect working order by the time
my internship ends.

Cal Poly had definately made its presence known at the Lookout and they have a
massive field study already underway. Accompanied by their fearless leader Dr.
FX Villablanca, a group of students has spent several weekends camped at the
Lookout while GPS mapping their survey plots and establishing their study
design. Its been great to watch them progress with leaps and bounds, what a
unique and fun opportunity to get real field work experience.

Finally, I should put in my 2cents for two upcoming events at the Lookout. This
Friday the 20th will be another volunteer workday at the site. If you can come
help us paint, dig, or ?? please contact Steve, Kevin, or myself. Also, don’t
forget the open House/Condor campout is happening on Oct. 12. Sounds like lots
of good people will be up and I hope most of you will be there. With any luck, a
few of the birds will show up too.

Thanks for all the support and encouragement this summer,
By the way, I uploaded a dozen more photos to the photo section of the List Serv
home page…

Paul Andreano