Condors and Cats

Hi all! I’ve just returned from my stay at the mountain and had a great time, as usual.

Seeing as how Kelly is off enjoying herself in Hawaii (taking classes of course) we had to do a bit of schedule flip-flopping and Joel was kind enough to take over Sunday at the lookout. Thanks for
everything! Monday was beautiful and a bit chilly which was a nice change. I’ve been hearing that condor activity tends to die down in August, but I was surprised to track quite a few of birds from all 3
stations. Stuart and I shared duties today and almost filled an entire telemetry sheet! Sadly no sightings. I’m beginning to think our group of interns won’t be lucky enough to see any at the lookout this season. At least we are welcome at Hopper and Ventana!

The cat, whom I’ve temporarily and affectionately named “Spike”, is doing well. She pops her head out from under the porch when I arrived and continues to ‘meow’ at my heels throughout the day. Stuart and I fed her cans of tuna and bowls of milk today. I really hope we can
find a home for her.

Not a lot of visitors over the past few days, aside from the 5-6 Pozo firefighters. They drove up this afternoon just to enjoy the view and learn a little more about what we do at the lookout. They all really enjoyed the visit and we told them they’re more than welcome to come back any time. Also, an older man drove up with his (I’m assuming) grandson or nephew. Apparently he came up to the lookout 6 months ago for a local Audubon event and wanted to return. It felt really comforting to have a fellow birder up there!

That’s all I’ve got. Can’t wait for our Ventana trip!

-Karine