Hi Notes

LOTS of Condor activity since my last posting! You already heard from Mike and Roger regarding the seven Condors who checked out the Colony/Condor Days Parade in Atascadero, Oct 18th. I was working at the Templeton Resource Conservation District’s Watershed Fair booth in the Atascadero Sunken Gardens and happened to look up at a group of “Turkey Vultures” flying overhead…WHOA!!!...

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AC8, AC9 and the last days of wild California condors by Jan Hamber and Bronwyn Davey, 2003

On a spring day in May 1982, in a remote cave atop a cliff in the Sespe Condor Sanctuary, southern California, a tiny pink California condor chick pecked its way out of its hard egg shell that had protected it for nearly two months. He was greeted by his mother, a giant black bird, with a mottled orange head and a wing span of over 9 feet, who gently stroked him with her powerful beak and nestled...

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Atascadero Condors

Hello all, Saturday Oct. 18, on my way to a meet a friend for lunch in San Luis Obispo I got a message from Kathleen one of are volunteers at Hi Mountain. She had four condors fly overhead in downtown Atascadero. 30 minutes later from a hill by my house in Paso I picked up signals for 5 condors (108, 192, 194, 208, & 209) towards Atascadero. I was able to quickly locate...

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Cal Poly Mammalogy Trip To Hi Mt.

This last weekend, Oct. 10-12, mystical mammal man Dr. Villablanca and his mammoth Mammalogy class of nearly 60 students spent the weekend at Hi Mountain. The entire class stayed down the road and filled Hi Mountain Campground to capacity. Live traps were set Friday and Saturday night along Hi Valley trail, and at 3 locations around the Little Falls/Rinconada connector...

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Hi Notes

Following the very successful Open House Sat. Oct 4th, I again made the trip up to the lookout to check out the Condor activity. We weren’t treated to any sightings on Saturday, but, as Steve Schubert reported, Y179, a 5 year old male Condor from the Ventana Wilderness area, made an appearance at Montano de Oro on Tuesday, Oct 7th. I didn’t pick up signals that evening from the...

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California Condor in Montana De Oro State Park

I was leading a Camp KEEP walk with our 6th grade students at IslayCreek in MDO this afternoon when the radio we carry for emergencies wassuddenly crackling with an excited voice- although the reception wasvery poor I was barely able to make out the phrases “condor flying!’ andthen ‘yellow tag’ in the broken-up communications from my co-workerCathy Chambers. That got my attention. I was ‘trapped’...

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Openhouse/Campout

Hi all,The Oct. 4th-5th event was a great opportunity for many of us toreconnect with friends, talk with colleagues and make new acquaintances.70 people attended the 2nd annual open house events, and long-distancetravelers included Mike and Bronwyn (surprise!) driving down from Pt.Reyes on their way south following their summer work in Alaska, Carolefrom Cupertino, Kathy Ball from Sequoia National...

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Hi Notes

Once again, I have about 3 weeks to catch up on. But to get right tothe Really Good Stuff…Yesterday after picking up signals from twobirds; OR209, a 4 1/2 year old male and W231, a 3 1/2 year oldfemale, and tracking them for about two hours, suddenly the signalswere coming from every direction, loud and strong. I franticallylooked for them with my binoculars but couldn’t find them. Thesignals began...

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