Hi Notes

My trip to Hi Mountain on Wed. Jan 15, 2003 was quiet as far as
Condor signals were concerned. The big birds are staying in Ventana
where they belong…boring for us, good for them! I arrived at the
lookout at about 0845 and it was freezing! The wind was blowing 30
mph from the north and, with the wind chill, it was 26 degrees. It
was a bit foggy and there was not much visibility except to the west
where I could see the coastline. It warmed up to a balmy 56 degrees
by 1500 hours. The highlight of my day came while driving down from
the lookout and seeing what I initially thought was a red tailed hawk
on a snag near the Lopez Lake fork. Upon closer inspection, it turned
out to be a Golden Eagle! The sun was shining like, well…GOLD, on
its head and shoulders. I waited for about 1/2 hour hoping it would
fly. An accipiter, either a Cooper’s Hawk or a Sharp Shinned Hawk,
zoomed by the eagle, but even that wouldn’t encourage it to fly. My
next encounter was with a Bobcat high-tailing it accross the road in
front of my pickup above the campgrounds. Not to be outdone, ANOTHER
Bobcat ran accross the road just above the Salinas River crossing.
Another soul soothing and beautiful day at Hi Mountain!
Bye for now and maybe I’ll see some of you during the Winter Bird
Festival this week…
Kathleen