Hi notes

Wednesday May 28, 2003: This week Joan Carter and her extremely well- behaved dog Mika accompanied me to the lookout. We picked up signals from OR204, a four year old male Condor. Based on the direction of the signals, he appears to have flown from the vicinity of Hopper Mt.

(in the south), proceeding north, to the west of the lookout, perhaps over Cuesta Grade, then to the Atascadero area. We lost the signal at about 1330 hours and I’m assuming he flew on up to the Ventana area. Eating lunch has become a chanllange; the bug population REALLY insists that we share our fare with them. Very friendly crew. Another indication that summer has arrived: The Farewell-to-Spring flowers have replaced the Lupines and simply COVER the banks of the road!

Take care ’til next week…

Kathleen

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Huff's Hole

I hiked in with Gary Guliazi today, 5/26, from Hi Mtn. Rd, through Hi
Valley, where we met up with Mike Tyner who hiked down from Hi Mtn.
Lookout early in the morning. There were mountain lion scratches on the
large outcrop with the grinding holes near Hi Valley Rock, and we
followed bear tracks and scat signs into Huff’s Hole.

This is my Huff’s Hole 25th anniversary year- camping out 3 1/2 months
in 1978 as a peregrine falcon nest guard with John Schmitt, employed by
USFS, at a time when peregrines were still very rare and endangered.
Today, as I was reminiscing at our old campsite among the oaks, we were
suddenly alerted by the familiar vocalizations of peregrines. The female
carried prey to the ‘eyrie cliffs”, soon the tiercel went off on a
hunt. During 2 1/2 hours prey was delivered 3 times to a prominent ledge
with a deep recess at the back, so, there are chicks being fed. Last
confirmed peregrine nesting in Huff’s Hole was 1994. There are now two
known inland peregrine nest sites in SLO CO.

The perched female got up in the air once to ‘cak’ angrily at a golden
eagle passing through. I was also surprised to see a prairie falcon fly
to the edge of a cave on ‘condor cliffs’, to the left of DragonHead, and
only a couple hundred yards away from the peregrine perched above her
eyrie. The prairie took flight in the wrong direction and was attacked
and chased away by the peregrine, but nevertheless, the resident prairie
falcons are probably also nesting in relatively close proximity.

Radio signal strength was sometimes weak and broken up talking with Lisa
Andreano, who was staffing the lookout above. We also had a disconnected
cell phone problem and a poor signal trying to call the lookout (1 mile
away), but had no problem at all calling to Jamey Eddy’s residence in
Laramie, Wyoming to report our finding! Jamey and Merlyn Felton reported
a peregrine in Huff’s Hole 3 weeks ago, which prompted our followup
visit today.

There was a constant chatter today of white-throated swifts above us and
a constant swarm of biting deerflies around us. Canyon wren, mountain
quail, raven, ash-throated flycatcher, black-headed grosbeak,
orange-crowned warbler, wrentit, and house wren were some of the other
background bird vocalizations. Clarkias (farewell-to-spring) and
Mariposa lilies are flowering in abundance in the grassy understory
among the blue oaks of Hi Valley, with occasional bright patches of
larkspur and golden yarrow, and some late blue-eyed grass and owl’s
clover.

Weather was sunny with high cirrus clouds, afternoon temp. 70’s, and
light breeze.A memorable Memorial Day…

Steve Schubert

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Hi notes

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted ‘notes’, so here are
some ‘catch ups’. On Wednesday, 5/14/03 I picked up signals from
three Condors (W231, W219 and OR204) in the direction of
Atascadero/Cuesta Grade. There were reports from a couple of people
who saw a Condor above Cuesta grade the following day, so perhaps the
same birds hung around for a day or two. Yesterday I ‘heard’ from one
Condor in the direction of Atascadero (B164) and one from the south,
toward Ventura (B170).
There was a drastic change in weather from 5/14/03 (45 degrees with a
strong, cold wind) and 5/21/03 (80 to 85 degress and lots of flying
critters, and I’m not referring to birds!). The wild flowers are
still beautiful. The Lupin are getting strong competition from
Farewell-to-Spring, Sticky Leaf Monkey Flowers and Chinese Houses for
dominance, with Wooley Blue Curls, Golden Yarrow and Mariposa Lilys
close behind. Speaking of which, I attended a very enjoyable
Wildflower Walk along the Hi Mountain road with Charlie Blair and
Helen Tarbet’s Native Plant Society group on Saturday, May 17.
Come up for a visit…bring your sun-screen, bug repellant and
binoculars for a great 360 degree view of our beautiful county. On a
clear day you can see the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Sierra
Nevada Mountains to the East…and all kinds of good stuff in
between!
Bye for now,
Kathleen

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Huff's Hole

I just got off the phone talking to Gary Guliazi. He told me that last
Tuesday, May 6th, Jamey Eddy, visiting from Wyoming, and Merlyn Felton,
down from Pacific Grove, hiked their way in through Hi Valley to Huff’s
Hole, below Hi Mountain (they got rained out trying last weekend). Jamey
said the trail was the best he has ever seen it, so I guess it was worth
the effort getting poison oak when I helped clear the trail last month
with Kevin and Tom. They saw a prairie falcon depart from a hole in one
of the large outcrops between Hi Valley Rock and Huff’s Hole cliffs - we
had also seen a prairie pair in April. The surprise was they also had a
peregrine falcon flying and vocalizing at Huff’s Hole…so, now we need
to plan another trip in there soon
to follow up on what is happening. Oh, and one more surprise- Merlyn
thought he heard someone coming and they looked to see a mother bear
with two cubs approaching within 40 feet on the trail!

Steve Schubert

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Hi notes

Spent the day at the lookout Wednesday, April 30. It was another
beautiful day and a perfect ending to April. The meadows just past
the Pozo Ranger Station are blanketed with Lupine and Owl’s Clover
and on the road to the lookout, Prickly Flox, Indian Paint Brush,
Hummingbird Sage, Sticky Monkey Flower and many other flowers are
still putting on a show.
One Condor, B170, sent strong signals, initially from the east, then
heading north, from 1400 to 1600 hours. This is a male condor,
released in December 1997. We can wish him happy hatchday in three
weeks: He was hatched May 23, 1997.
Had an interesting visit from a retired SLO County judge and his
friend who had hiked up from the Lopez Lake junction. These two guys
hike together all over California (including Mt. Whitney), various
other states and other countries!
Steve Schubert has some lookout activities planned for May and June,
so watch for his notices.
Bye ’til next installment.
Kathleen

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