Interview with Mike Tyner's brother Tim Skeens

Photo courtesy of Ventana Wildlife Society

On May 19, 2012, a memorial gathering was held at the Hi Mt. Lookout to celebrate the life and work of our dear friend Mike Tyner. A number of Mike's family members were in attendance that day, and Hi Mt. volunteer John Fitzrandolph sat down with Mike's brother Tim Skeens to ask him a few questions about Mike's life.

John recently found the recording he made of the interview, and thought it might be something Mike's friends would enjoy hearing. Mike's family has given their blessing to share it with the world via this website. Tim has a great speaking voice, and he shares some wonderful and poignant insights.

We hope that Mike's story will continue to inspire and uplift both those who knew him, and those that have only heard of him. Thanks to Tim Skeens, Nancy Tyner, and John Fitzrandolph for making it possible to share this interview.

You can listen to a web stream of the interview here:



Or, you can download the interview as an mp3 podcast (13mb) from this link.

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Mike Tyner Honored in the Congressional Record

It gives us great pleasure to announce that our Mike Tyner has been honored in the Congressional Record by a statement made on December 12, 2012 by Congressman Sam Farr.

"Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to rise today to honor the memory of Mike Tyner. Mike gave his life to help endangered species flourish, and his life is a reminder that we can all play a part in devoting ourselves to making the world a healthier and more beautiful place."

You can read the entire text here.

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Mike Tyner Memorial Event Re-cap

Hello all,

The Mike Tyner Memorial Event at Hi Mountain Lookout on May 19th was attended by many family, friends, and colleagues. It was a sunny day with a brisk offshore breeze, folks socializing and sharing fond memories of Mike, potluck lunch, and a raffle and silent auction fundraiser for the memorial fund that will help support future internships at Hi Mountain Lookout. Several stayed for the sunset viewing and overnight campout.

Thank-you to all the event planners and attendees. It was a nice way to commemorate all of Mike's contributions over the years to the Lookout Project and the Condor Recovery Program, and reminisce about the many ways Mike impacted the lives of all those who came his way. He is missed.

Steve Schubert

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Thanks Mike. Video by Andy Ganick.

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Mike Tyner Memorial Event - May 19 @ Hi Mt.

Saturday, May 19th, 2012
Hi Mountain Lookout, Los Padres National Forest

Brother, son, cousin, biologist, friend, student, teacher, mentor. Mike Tyner dedicated his life to the understanding and protection of nature. He died on November 30th, 2011, while protecting the birds that he loved in Big Sur. Mike graduated from Cal Poly SLO with a degree in Ecology and Systematic Biology in 2003. He got his start in field biology at the Hi Mountain Condor Lookout, and eventually became the field supervisor for the Ventana Wildlife Society’s Condor Recovery Program.

Mike was an avid birder, botanist, naturalist, and a beloved friend to many.  He was a positive and influential force in the world, spreading his love and enthusiasm for nature to all of those that he touched. Mike is gone, but he will never forgotten, especially not at Hi Mountain.  Please come celebrate his life with us on Saturday May 19th at one of Mike’s favorite places…..the Hi Mountain Condor Lookout.

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Sociable Hermits: A Story of Lookouts by Matt Geer

Sociable Hermits: A Story of Lookouts by Matt Geer @ youtube.com

This is actually just a 10 min trailer for a video documentary that I’m not sure ever got made. When I was an intern at Hi Mt. in the summer of 2002, Matthew Geer came up for a visit. He was shooting scenes for this movie and wanted to use the Hi Mt. Lookout as an example of a vandalized and disfunctional Lookout site. At the time, we had just barely begun the restoration process at Hi Mt, and there are a few good shots of the interior of the Lookout and the West wall before Anthony’s mural was painted. Also in this video are interviews with Kathy Ball and some magnificent aerial video of the famous Buck Rock Lookout. Hope you enjoy this, and thanks to Matthew Geer for putting this together and sending me the VHS tape. -Paul

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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 when it passed me by. Not too many birds up there but the usual. Had a couple SAGE SPARROWS. Nice to see the chaparral currant blooming.

Mike Tyner
Paso Robles

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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 and continued on along its base, where we were alerted to the presence of a pair of territorial prairie falcons by there cak-ing vocalizations. One falcon perched at the edge of a pothole with whitewash- a probable eyrie- located on one of the outcrops between Hi Valley Rock and the Huff’s Hole cliffs- this was the same pothole eyrie where peregrine falcon chicks were cross-fostered with prairie falcon parents many years ago, by Lee Aulman from SCPBRG and Kevin Cooper from USFS.

We reached the green protrero of Huff’s Hole and made our way up to the observation point where last year in May- viewing across the intervening canyon to the cliffs- a resident pair of peregrine falcons had been observed bringing prey into an eyrie. While the rest of the group was sitting down and getting out food for lunch at 12 noon, I arrived at the OP and decided before eating to first scan with my binoculars and search for a perched peregrine somewhere on that massive cliff exposure- no luck, but then…

I found myself saying “Oh my God, there is a condor there in a cave!”. I viewed an orange head and black feathers exposed on the edge of a large depression in the cliffs, more than 1/4 mile distance. For the next 3 hours, we watched with binoculars and spotting scope, and photographed with telephoto lense and by videotaping. Condor B168 was identified by his wing tag numbers and by the telonics equipment that Kathleen Intorf and Mike Tyner used to get a radio signal- he is a Ventana Wilderness Society released bird, a 7 year old male. The condor entered and disappeared into the cave about a half hour, reemerged awhile preening and stretching wings, then took flight soaring above the ridgeline about 25 minutes, sometimes among neighboring turkey vultures. The condor
appeared to be departing to the north above the ridgeline beyond our view, for our apparent last look at it, but then returned up high and swept back and forth above the cliff face. More excitement when B168 was dived on by a red-tailed hawk (Gary Guliazi later spotted the red-tail’s stick nest occupied by an incubating adult, on the cliffface below where the condor had been attacked).

I was videotaping as the condor swept along the cliffs and circling around “Dragon’s Head”, and was pleased for my niece Emily who is gathering information, incluing videotaping, for her high school science project and talk she will be giving on California Condor research…it was dramatic firsthand experience in the field for her, in spite of her great fear of poison oak, ticks and bugs in general! The condor made several more brief flights by the time we departed and took a last look back to the cliffs in the distance at 3pm.

We sweated our way up the exhausting climb back to the lookout on Hi Mountain…a good day had by all. We will now be looking into B168’s other recent radio tracking movements and whereabouts by communicating with the VWS and USFWS condor staff. Monitoring condor activity at Huff’s Hole will continue, where last condor nesting occurred in the early 1970’s more than 30 years ago.

Steve Schubert

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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 early in the morning before the sun comes up. The birdseed that has been put out on the ground has been attracting a lot of sparrows. A flock of 20+ `Oregon’ Dark-eyed Juncos makes its way to the seed many times a day. From the catwalk you can see and hear the flock coming up the wooded hillsides on their rounds. They will feed for a few minutes and then they will be off, spooked and taking cover in the brush. They are very fearful of coming out in the open. But once a few brave birds venture out then the rest of the flock and other species not associated with the flock will join in on the feeding. Golden- crowned Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, California Towhees, Spotted Towhees, Purple Finches, Western Scrub-Jays, Fox Sparrow, and even a `Slate-colored’ Dark-eyed Junco all take part in the feast. Maybe with all the action at the seed the local Sharp- shinned Hawk will find an easy meal. Not only birds but also small mammals at night feed on the seed as evidenced by the sunflower seed shells downstairs left by the deer mice that still seem to be able to get inside the building. Only a few Anna’s Hummingbirds are using the one feeder that is left out. The birdbath attracts all the birds that visit the seed plus Lesser Goldfinch, Wrentit, and California Thrasher. Although I did not see the latter two using the bath at all for the last few days I was up there. In the late summer and fall they were both constantly using the water. Maybe with the wetter season and cooler temperatures there is less need for them to seek water or maybe they are just getting the water from other locations, or both. Throughout the day I had views off various birds perched on Hi Valley and Huff’s Hole rocks: Red- tailed Hawk, Golden Eagle, Common Raven, an unidentified falcon, and Turkey Vultures. The Vultures sometimes chose to sit on the rock rather than stand. Had brief signals from two condors up towards Big Sur and stronger signals from three condors towards the southwest in Santa Barbara County. Just as I first picked up a signal from one of the birds to the southwest I got a message from a friend who claimed he was almost positive he saw a condor heading north while driving on 101 near Los Alamos 20 minutes earlier but he couldn’t ID it for sure. The direction of the signal I was getting placed the bird 10-15 miles to the northwest of Los Alamos at the closest. So it may either be possible or just coincidence that it was a condor he saw and one I was tracking. Later I picked up a signal for another bird in the same general direction. Maybe the `Condor Country’ tour with the Winter Bird Festival will be lucky enough to spot one.

Mike Tyner

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Audubon California Field Trip

Today, Nov.1st, a group of 13 of us met at Hi Mountain Lookout for an afternoon field trip. Following yesterday’s rain showers there was no dust on the road, everything had a fresh smell after the first fall rains, the skies were deep blue, flat-bottomed white cumulus clouds were scattered widely over the Santa Lucias, and a brisk cold wind blew (wind chill was 36*F in the late afternoon). Viewing conditions were excellent far out to sea and inland to the Temblor Range.

Audubon California staff (employees of the National Audubon Society) who made the long trip to the lookout were Craig Palmer from San Francisco and John Culpepper from Los Angeles, and their invited guests Robert and Margie from Sacramento. Morro Coast Audubon Society members attending the field trip were Barbara Burke, Joanna Frawley, Gerry Montgomery, Penny McCaula and Lisa Trayser (visiting from Salem, Oregon).

After lunch, I gave an overview of the Hi Mtn. Project and a lookout tour. Kathleen Intorf demonstrated condor radio tracking using the telonics equipment, and later gave a training session for our new student volunteers Michelle and Megan, who are Animal Science majors recruited through the Cal Poly Wildlife Club.

A new improvement at the lookout is all the nice rock work being done- initiated by Paul Andreano and being completed by Lisa Andreano and Jeff Osborne- with rock borders along the perimeters and lining the
footpaths. Several truck loads of heavy rock materials have been transported up to the lookout from down below to work on the project. Also, ‘thank-you’ to Mike Tyner who was so concerned he made an unscheduled trip to the lookout yesterday to check on how it ‘weathered’ the first fall rains (ok, Mike, no more convenient distractions…now you can get back to work writing that term paper that’s due soon!)

The group today was very appreciative and supportive of the lookout project. Kathleen and I stayed after they departed and ‘worked’ until after sunset, then drove down the mountain in the dark, with a quarter
moon and Mars rising bright in the east.

Steve Schubert

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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!!! Those aren’t TVs! Those are Condors! Four of these beautiful birds flew over, circled and flew back over again. I guess they weren’t in the market for hand crocheted doilies or brochures on water conservation as they kept heading south and out of sight. DJ Funk was on the ball and whipped out his video camera and got some footage of the four birds.

Last Tuesday (Oct 21)as I was on my way up to the lookout I stopped to check out a huge kettle of TVs in Atascadero on Hwy 41 and picked up a signal for Y192. I couldn’t pick her out in the crowd, but Mike
Tyner checked Wed. morning and got a signal from her, still inAtascadero. I kept getting signals all day Wed. Oct 22 and found that she was still in Atas. Thursday morning. She was perched in some dead branches of a huge Gray Pine. Later that morning a friend reported seeing her flying East from Atascadero.
This morning, Tues. Oct 28th I spoke to Denise Stockton at Hopper Mt. checking on a bird who had been missing for about a week (156, a six year old female). The good news is that she has turned up and is fine. The unhappy news is that the Hopper Mt. facility was in the path of the terrible fires down south. None of the main buildings were burned but they think they have lost some of their holding pens and blinds for observing the Condors at Hopper Mt. Denise said they are going to try to get up to these areas today to check out the damage. Luckily, no birds were in captivity and as far as they know all the released birds are o.k.

Bye ’til next time,
Kathleen

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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 5 Condors perched in some Foothill Pines off of Hwy 41 on the east side of town around noon. One of the birds with adult coloration, dark tag#56, was not one of
the birds I was picking up on my receiver. I assumed due to head and neck color this to be adult 156 and not the younger 256. Eventually the 5 birds left the perch and began soaring together joined by 2 other condors making a total of 7 huge condors over Atascadero. I’m not sure who the seventh mystery condor was. The day before from west Cuesta Ridge I had signals from 219 & 242 towards Shandon and Black Mtn.

Check out some pics of the birds in Atascadero at: http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/himountainlookout3

Mike

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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 trail off Hi Mountain road. Species captured: Chaetodipus californicus (California pocket mouse), Reithrodontomys megalotus (Western Harvest mouse), Peromyscus californicus (Parasitic mouse), P. maniculatus (Deer mouse), P. boylii (Brush mouse), P. Truei (Pinyon mouse), Neotoma lepida (Desert woodrat), Urocyon cinereoargeneius (Gray fox).

Mike Tyner

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Condor off Hwy 46

This morning at about 8:30 I decided to try to drive to Villa Creek
to check out some sandpipers and whatnot. I had the telonics
receiver from yesterday afternoon’s search for California Condor
Y213, It was strange that the bird just seemed to disappear yesterday
afternoon with neither Holly at Hi Mountain or myself able to pick up
a signal from the bird after narrowing its location down to the
Atascadero/Creston area. Last night I drove from Paso Robles to Los
Osos via hwy 41 with the omni antennae on the roof of my car hoping
for a signal from the bird in some canyon, nothing. So I decided I’d
try to pick up the bird on my drive across hwy 46 to the Villa
Creek. Not but a few miles from 101 on 46 I began to pick up the
bird. The intermittent signal due to traveling through the
mountainous terrain grew stronger as I made my way up into the
hills. By about York Mountain road the signal was very strong and I
new I had a good chance of finding it. I pulled over and plugged the
yagi antenna in so that I could determine what direction the signal
was coming from. The signal was strongest towards the hills ahead on
the SE side of the hwy. I continued up 46 pulling over whenever I
had a strong signal to make sure I didn’t pass the bird by. This
took me to a pullout with a call box just beyond the entrance to
Santa Rita Ranchos. From this location you can look directly off the
hwy SE down into this gated community nestled among beautiful oak
woodland and mixed evergreen forest. There in one of these canyons
with scattered houses, barns, and orchards Condor 213 must have spent
the night. It was about 9:40 and I was able to talk on my cell with
Holly at the lookout. She wasn’t picking up signals for any birds.
But my telonics was screaming and I could tell the bird was perched
probably somewhere in one of these canyons. There was barely any
breeze and only a few turkey vultures were out flying. I was content
to stay in this spot until the wind picked up and the bird decided to
move. Finally the wind came and not 10 minutes later at 10:36 I
spotted 213 flying just above the ridge of one of the canyons I
suspected it in. But it only stayed in view for about 10 seconds. I
walked over to the entrance gate to the ranchos and one of the
property owners was leaving and of course was wondering what I was
doing. I let him know that I was tracking a condor and it had
probably roosted overnight in the vicinity. I asked permission to
drive in through the gate. He had no problem with it so I entered.
I found a couple spots with good views of the surrounding area but
was only able to get a distant visual of the bird one other time as
it was making its way to the SE. I would note that I found two deer
carcasses one on the opposite side of the call box on hwy 46 where I
first saw the bird and another fresh carcass of a young buck that
died along the waters edge of a pond on someone’s property inside the
community. By this time I had given up going to Villa Creek,
needless to say, and figured the bird would likely make its way back
down to were it came from, Ventura county. I left the ranchos and
headed back towards 101 stopping along the way at various places to
try and figure out what route the bird was taking. By this time,
11:40 Holly and I had the bird directly between us as I was taking a
signal from near vineyard road and 46. I continued to chase 213,
slowed down only by frequent pullovers to take signals and a classic
stop at In n Out burger. At 12:42 Holly had the bird between Black
mtn and Pozo Summit. The bird was on a mission to get home and
stayed one step ahead of me likely flying directly over Atascadero
and skirting the west side of the La Panzas as verified from
triangulation from the Lookout and myself on Park Hill rd out near
Pozo. I continued to follow to the gate at the end of Pozo Road and
had moderate but inconsistent signals at 1:30 straight up the valley
towards Avenales Ranch. I could go no further and hung out at the
gate marveling at the scenic beauty surrounding me and listening to
the telonics as 213 flew further and further away. As I headed home,
dropping off the telonics at Pozo Station, Holly still had 213 plus
167, 204, and 208 this time towards Cuyama Valley. By 4:45 Holly had
signals from 167, 204, and 208 towards Atascadero. And the cycle
continues…

Mike Tyner
Paso Robles

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Sept. 5-7, 2003 - A bear of a time

Hey everyone,

For a change this week, to cover for Lisa who was going on vacation,
I staffed the lookout for the first weekend in September. I had a
great time on Friday with Paul who had been at the lookout since
Thursday morning. With no Condors for the last few days we spent
most of the day trying to identify many of the different named
mountains in the area using various maps. We finally picked up a
bird, 209, midday towards Big Sur. We monitored this bird closely
waiting to see if it would make the run to the south. Sure enough it
did and from the sounds of the radio receiver we were using to track
it with it seemed like it made a close pass by the lookout although
over an hour of scanning the skies with our binoculars did not
produce the bird. Better luck next time. We briefly had two Hopper
Mtn. birds to the southeast and that was it for the weekend as far as
Condors. The weather has been pleasant lately on the mountain in the
60s and 70s with a nice onshore wind which also made for some of the
best visibility I’ve seen since winter. Was able to see the Sierra’s
on Sunday, this time without the snow. Saturday at about 1:30 in the
afternoon while taking some photos of some of the late flowering
plants I heard a rustle in the bushes just in front of me. I backed
off instinctively and was able to make out the brown blunt ears of a
young black bear just 15 or so feet in front of me. I retreated to
the top of the cistern for a better safer view and tried to coax the
bear out with a few funny sounds for a photo but instead the
youngster decided to take off into the oaks. On the drive home not
even a mile from the lookout I turned a corner to find another bear,
same size and color, standing in the middle of the road. Other
highlights of the weekend were my first look at our new mucho grande
picnic table, one of the most impressive tables I’ve ever seen, an
American Kestrel hunting dragonflies, a flyby by a Golden Eagle, an
emergence of flying ants, and the continued presence of tons of
hummingbirds including Anna’s and a couple Black-chinned.

Mike

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Aug 26-28 Condor Flyby

Had a wonderful three days at the lookout this week. Tuesdays main
objective was tracking the travels of Condor or208 as it spent the
day moving through our county. I first picked up 208 at 320 degrees
from the lookout generally in the direction of Atascadero/Paso
Robles. Tracked this bird as it made its way along the Santa Lucias
at one point probably flying over parts of east San Luis Obispo and
the Cuesta Grade. After getting strong intermittent signals which
were cutting in and out as if on the other side, west slope, of the
Santa Lucias this bird came fast directly towards the lookout. I had
strong soaring signals to the south of the lookout and strained my
eyes looking for the bird down towards Lopez Lake. Suddenly directly
over Hi Valley rock about ½ mile away I noticed about 6 Turkey
Vultures soaring. I grabbed by binos and right in the middle of them
was a huge steady soaring California Condor. Primaries splayed in
full soar steadily circling. This huge bird made the vultures look
like novices as they rocked back and forth with the wind seemingly
out of control. The calm and controlled condor then made its way
towards Pozo staying east of the lookout leaving the TV’s and then
followed the Garcia Ridge to the east and south towards Cuyama
Valley. While all this was going on another bird or209 decided to
move north leaving the southern flock of condors in Santa Barbara
county and choosing the La Panza range as its guide and thereby out
of visible range. This bird stayed in San Luis Obispo county for at
least the next day and a half spending the remainder of Tuesday and
Tuesday night roosting somewhere not to far northwest of the
lookout. All through Wedensday and most of Thursday I continued to
get signals from this bird although maybe further north then the day
before. By now the bird is probably with the handful of birds in Big
Sur. The rest of the Big Sur flock are still on extended vacation
mingling with the southern flock near Hopper NWR.

Birds around the Lookout are becoming more visible feeding on the
ripening coffeeberries. In one bush there were 4 Thrashers and a
Black-headed Grosbeak all chowing down on the sweet berries. The
number of Selasphorus hummingbirds is up with a ratio of maybe 1 to
every 5 Anna’s and man some of them can be mean. Only one solid
Rufuous and only one male Black-chinned. Don’t know what happen to
the tiny gray Costa’s. A Cooper’s Hawk was a nice surprise, they
have been very uncommon for at least the last few months.

Mike

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August 18-21

Hi all,

Spent half of Monday driving the great dirt roads in the La Panza
mountains. My mission was to post signs, in English and Spanish, at
the major gathering areas for hunters and other recreationists in the
area in an effort to notify the public that condors were using the
area and what the public could do to `Help Save the California
Condor’. I visited the campgrounds such as La Panza, Friis, and
Navajo, parking areas Turkey Flats and Navajo Flats, and the
trailhead to the Machesna Mountain Wilderness near Castle Crags.
Being Monday afternoon there weren’t too many people out except for
two gentlemen camped at La Panza and 3 vehicles, two of which were
hunters who were in search for a buck. Talked to one friendly hunter
who knew exactly what I was doing out there. He knew that condors
were possible in the area and had been in the Hi Mountain area
recently and ran into Kathleen who was also posting signs. I made it
back to Hi Mountain around 9:00pm. Tuesday - Thursday at the lookout
was very comfortable, SW winds were keeping it humid and temperatures
in the 60s and 70s were a nice break from the normally hot weather to
be expected this time of year, even had a few sprinkles on Thursday.
Condors were out daily to the SE on the Sierra Madre, one of their
favorite places to visit while away from the Hopper Mountain NWR.
Had a nice visit from Karen Wood of Friends of Lopez Lake and The
Dunes Center in Guadalupe and also a USFS fire crew from hwy 166 who
were filling in for our local Pozo crew.

Check out the updated pics at the Summer 2003 Interns’ Archive:
http://www.geocities.com/himountainlookout

Mike

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August 12-14 at the lookout

 was at the lookout this week August 12-14th. On Tuesday I only

picked up two birds all day, or208 and or209 both to the southeast
towards the Sierra Madre ridge. I had signals overnight for 208 who
must have most likely been staying the night on the Madre. On
Wednesday I drove up Garcia Ridge road a few miles from the lookout
for some early morning signals. As predicted still had 208 towards
the Sierra Madre as I took signals and listening to a Canyon Wren’s
song. The same boulders the wren called home were also responsible
for not being able to get any further down the ridge as this rocky
section required something with a little more clearance then the
Subaru I was driving. The rest of the day was spent at the lookout
picking up or208, y216, y213, w255, and b167 all towards the Sierra
Madre. I had one birds to the northwest, or204, out towards Fort
Hunter Liggett. I continued to pick up this bird until Thursday when
the bird decided to take the trip south, according to the signal
strength and direction it was probably following the La Panzas.
Could you guess the birds ended up, of all places, towards the Sierra
Madre were I also picked up y213 earlier in the day.

Mike

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August 4-7 the big and small (condors and hummingbirds)

Hi all,

This week at the lookout (August 4-7) the weather was phenomenally cool for August. I kept busy tracking 14 condors and adjusting to the flocks increased movements as the birds prepare for the risky

deer hunting season and the bounties (some of them lead tainted) that it provides. I arrived at the lookout Monday afternoon to meet Kathleen who had been there since the morning. She informed me of getting signals from a bird at 0845 in the direction of Huff’s Hole. A signal so early in the morning could only mean that the bird stayed locally Sunday night probably in the vicinity of Huff’s Hole/Lopez Canyon and may have been the same bird Kevin saw earlier in the day while mountain biking the ridge. She continued to track the bird as it moved north throughout the day. Monday night Mars was shining bright orange/red on the eastern horizon after the sun had went down.

Tuesday morning I began picking up signals at 1104 in the direction of Cuyama Valley and by 1357 birds were up and about towards Atascadero/Paso Robles with one bird roosting somewhere along

the Santa Lucia’s towards Hwy 41 and 46 in SLO Co. that night. I continued to get strong perching signals all through the night form this condor until Wednesday morning at 0918 when the bird was back up and flying. Wednesday afternoon at 1300 I began picking up the same bird again and tracked its movements from the Atascadero area across the eastern part of the county over to Cuyama Valley were I lost it at 1623. Surprisingly another bird decided to show up near Castle Crags at 1905 and stayed the night, again giving strong signals throughout the night. Thursday morning had birds moving around in the direction of Cuyama Valley by 0838 and the Castle Crags bird up and flying at 0910. Throughout the morning this bird seemed to remain near Castle Crags alternating between perching and flying (according to the blips on my telonix). I was quickly on my toes at 1310 when signals of this bird were coming in ridiculously strong in the direction of San Luis Obispo. Looking desperately towards Cuesta Ridge trying to get a glimpse of the bird I could not help but notice the 50 plus turkey vultures who were now in the area heading in the same direction towards San Luis. I imagined that the condor must had been mingling with this huge group of vultures as it moved across the county. I continued to track this bird as it moved towards SLO and promptly called Dr. Villablanca for him to see if he could pick up this bird from Cal Poly in San Luis. I got a call back at 1429 and indeed he had picked up signals from the bird and followed it as it moved from reservoir canyon area to lower San Luis/Edna Valley. I continued to receive signals from this bird on the west side of Cuesta Ridge throughout the afternoon.

Hi Mountain is full of Hummingbirds. The diversity this week at the feeders is greater than I’ve ever seen it. 5 species in all with two 16oz feeders providing an endless supply of food for these hungry little birds. In order of abundance: Anna’s (90%), Rufous, Allens, Black-chinned, and one tiny little gray Costa’s. The rufous and black-chinned seem to be the more aggressive. With up to 9 hummers on a feeder at once the food only lasts a little over a day before needing to be refilled.

Other special bird sightings: Golden Eagle & Phainopepla.

Until next week…

Mike Tyner

Hi Mountain Intern (Summer 2003)

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Vacation on the Mountain

Greetings all,

I spent Tues. through Thurs. of this week at the Lookout, filling in for Mike Tyner who is on holiday. It was a hot, productive, and somewhat sentimental three days, being the first extended visit to the Lookout I’ve had since last summer. Condor activity was very low: no signals on Tues. and brief, weak signals mid-day on Weds. and Thurs. from a few birds to my distant east/southeast.

I spent a few hours painting interior window frames and sills on Weds. I’m still taken back by the transformation of the Lookout since last June and the list of “finishing touches” is rapidly dwindling. Kevin Cooper came up on thursday to complete his masterpiece of a deck, adding a stairs and siding to it. He also built some shelving in the storage areas downstairs. John from Pacific Energy came up on Thurs. and spent most of the afternoon re-wiring the solar console, installing a new battery array, and answering all the questions Kevin and I could come up with. Hooray! The power is back on!! I also had the good fortune of meeting and orienting our newest volunteer Jack Morehead of Morro Bay. Jack will be a great asset to the Project. He worked for the NPS for 40 yrs, has staffed a fire lookout (enduring lightening strikes!), just completed the Lewis and Clark Trail, and also has a background in archaeology(!). Jack took a short walk around Hi Mt. and collected what he thinks to be pottery shards from several locations. Yet another aspect of the Lookout Project that needs more investigating….Looking forward to having Jack on board.

As always, the views were terrific and the serenity at the Lookout is never disappointing. Tues. evening at dusk I was visited by a dozen or so Western Mastiff Bats. These guys are HUGE and have an eerie, audible feeding call. They coursed over the shrubs and around the tower until  well after dark. A very vocal gray fox kept me up late on weds night, yelping, whining and barking in the scrub just east of the tower. What fun!

I want to add a sincere thanks to the Poly students and volunteers whohave been staffing the Lookout since I left. The Lookout Tower and Visitor Center have been kept remarkably clean, organized, and stocked. The surrounding area is neat, trash and star thistle free, and the “scars” are healing nicely. The Visitor Center is filling up with journal articles, specimines, maps, and loads of cool stuff. Its very obvious that folks are seriously caring for the place and a feeling of stewardship hangs around the mountain. Thanks to you all for the work and dedication to the Project, it really shows. Above all, thanks for being there to look out for the birds!

Until my next trip up,

-Paul Andreano

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