Condor Sector 3

Checked out the morro coast cbc sector 3 “west cuesta ridge” today in preparation for count day tomorrow. Had a fly-by adult CALIFORNIA CONDOR with yellow tags heading north along the ridge between the two radio tower facilities. This was at about 11:15. Couldn’t read the numbers and couldn’t keep up with it even in a car. It was breezy and the bird was doing a lot of flapping...

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Condor Sighting in MDO

This morning I was leading a Camp KEEP hike with our 6th grade students on the Valencia Peak trail in Montana De Oro State Park. At 700 ft. elevation the girls in my hike group were admiring the coastal scenery with blue skies, scattered cumulus clouds, and a cool breeze from the north. Vultures, red-tailed hawks and northern harriers were of interest to point out, but then...

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Hi Notes

Greetings from Hi Mountain Lookout. Since my postings have been sporadic, I’ll do some catching up on past happenings and sightings from the top of the world: 9/1/04 Mountain Lion sighting and 10 minute observation (already posted). There are castings of the tracks at the lookout for those who would like to see what they look like. I’m assuming that Cal Polystudent Jeremy White...

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Hopper Mountain Visit

Hi all,Following is an interesting report from Cal Poly student and Hi Mountain Lookout volunteer Ali West, regarding her recent field training and orientation tour at Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge in Ventura County. This was the second field training opportunity our lookout interns and volunteers have been provided this summer. ‘Thank-you’ to the staff from the...

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Hi notes

It’s been eons since I posted the happenings at Hi Mountain Lookout…even though I still make my weekly visits to paradise! Yesterday was an especially unusual day, however, and needs to beshared! On my usual morning walk down the road from the lookout, I stopped to look at a covey of California Quail through my binoculars and what should meander into my field of view but a Mountain...

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Recent Events

Hi all, Last week Kevin Cooper conducted an onsite field trip to Hi Mountain Lookout attended by 15 U.S. Forest Service staff. This was the new Los Padres Forest Supervisor’s first visit and orientation to the project. The Forest Service staff were very appreciative and supportive of all our efforts at the lookout. On Aug. 26th we had a 5 hour planning and discussion meeting...

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Lion at the Lookout!!

Hi all, After receiving a thorough onsite training session from Kathleen- benefitting greatly from her experience and expertise- I staffed the lookout Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. I had a number of projects to work on before our 3 Cal Poly student interns and volunteer staff come on to staff for the rest of the summer field season. Sleeping outside on a cot upstairs...

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W-231 at Huff's Hole

Hi All, To add to Jamie’s experience with ‘lost’ communications: Yesterday while I was at the lookout, I received a call from Jessica Koning from Ventana Wilderness Society. She reported that Condor #242, a 3 1/2 year old male who has a GPS transmitter on one wing , had spent two days in the vicinity of Lopez Lake and Hi Mountain on May 24th and 25th. I was quite surprised...

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W231 at Huff's Hole

Hello Everyone,I was at the Lookout on Sunday, May 30, and got just a few signals from Pinnacles birds in the morning. Around 1:20pm, I got a strong signal from W231 (freq. 5703 & 5601) all the way around the lookout. I finally got her signal narrowed down to the direction of Huff’s Hole. I couldn’t get a visual on her from the lookout, so I went over to Cypress Hill and...

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May field trips

Last weekend I drove a van with 10 passengers up to Hi Mtn. Lookout for a field trip with my Cuesta College Community Programs class entitled “Condor Country”. The next day 6 participants with the group ‘Friends of Lopez Lake’ also arrived on a field trip to the lookout . Both days staffer Noll Roberts demonstrated radio telemetry and picked up signals from condors at Pinnacles...

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Exciting weekend at Hi Mountain!

I arrived at the Lookout around noon on Saturday, May 8. I met up with my friend, Danielle Castle, at the gate, and found Jeremy White, his brother and a friend, and Charlie Blair already at the Lookout. I began to open up the Lookout, and Jeremy, his brother and his friend went for a hike down to Hi Valley. Around 12:40, Danielle called over to me, “Umm, Jamie, there’s a really...

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Condor B168 at Hi Mountain

This past weekend CondorB168 was back again, soaring above Hi Mountain Lookout for about 30 minutes, according to lookout staffer Jamie Miller. B168 had been observed at a cave entrance on the Huff’s Hole cliffs below the lookout on April 6th, and since then has travelled north and south between Ventana Wilderness Area near Big Sur and Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge...

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Condors at Hi Mt!!!

Condors at the Hi Mountain Lookout!!!  On Sunday the 4th of April a California Condor flew over the lookout, circled and headed south towards Santa Barbara County. On Saturday the day before, Amy Millan picked up a strong signal from the north. The signal was from w231 a female born on the 30th of April in 2000 and released in Ventanna Wilderness the 5th of April in 2001....

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Huff's Hole

Yesterday, 4/6/04, Kevin Cooper and I made our annual trip into Huff’s Hole, in the Santa Lucia Wilderness Area below Hi Mountain Lookout. Our group of nine, including 3 of my visiting family from Oregon, cleared the trail of brush and poison oak and made our way into Hi Valley. We cleaned out the soil and organic debris from the Chumash grinding holes near Hi Valley Rock...

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Work Weekend March 5th-7th

Hi all, Over the three day weekend a total workforce of 20 were onsite at Hi Mountain Lookout, coming and going at different times. Several camped out one or two nights. Much was accomplished, assisting contractor John Porter with installation of lightning protection, electrical grounding and other safety improvements. John Porter was a safety contractor for many years working...

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Forest Service Recognition

Hi everybody. I just wanted to let you know that the Washington office ofthe Forest Service recognized the Hi Mountain Lookout Project as anexcellent example of the Naturewatch program, and gave us some good press.I was happily surprised at our regional meeting with the award. I plan topiggyback on this and use the exposure to help obtain some funding.Seems like every time we get the word out, we...

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Hi Notes

I spent a couple of pleasant days up at the lookout this week and was rewarded with signals from two Pinnacles National Monument condors: Bk 265 and Bk 287. I don’t know if these two birds just have stronger transmitters or if they are up and about more than the other 4 birds, but I’ve picked up at least one of them the last three times I’ve monitored from the lookout. As...

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Condors at Hi Mt.

Last Friday, 2/6, USFS wildlife biologists Kevin Cooper and Tom Murphey were working on improvements at Hi Mountain Lookout, joined by several Cal Poly students staffing the lookout. They had a sighting of two condors ‘chasing’ each other over the Huff’s Hole cliffs below, then continuing on and perching in a tree near one of the large rock outcrops to the east of Hi Valley...

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Hi Notes

OK…I’ve been remiss is posting of late, so I’ll play catch-up, beginning with the great news from yesterday’s trip to the top of the world (well, SLO County): I picked up signals from Blk287, one of the newly released Condors in the Pinnacles National Park! This precocious bird jumped to the head of his class by escaping from his holding pen while still at Ventana Wilderness...

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Jan 12-15 at the Lookout

It was great to be back up to the lookout after being away for 2 ½ months. The place looks better than ever with the new storm doors, rockwork, pruning, and change of season. Green is coming back to the hillsides and soon they will be alive with all types of flowering plants. Mountain Quail that have been quiet for the past few months are beginning to call again but only very...

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