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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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 lookout, but he headed
toward the lookout Wednesday afternoon. I kept receiving signals all afternoon, until he headed back toward the ocean and roosted somewhere to the West of the lookout, maybe MdO again. Any more
sightings, anyone? That same afternoon I began getting strong signals from W222, a 3 year old female, also from Ventana. The signals remained strong and FINALLY, at about 1830 I began getting ‘perching’ signals and so I headed back down the mountain. I checked for signals several times on my way home trying to pinpoint her location. I got a weak signal at the Santa Margarita Lake, Pozo Rd. junction.

Well, I couldn’t let it go there, so I began my first mobile tracking expedition Thursday morning. To make a long story short, I did locate her at Santa Margarita Lake circling near the ridge at the southern shore of the lake with some Turkey Vultures and at least one Golden Eagle. I didn’t actually see her numbered wing tag, but as the birds flew to the other side of the ridge her signal began fading. That was proof enough for me! She continued to head south toward the lookout until I lost her signal. I also learned that one needs to start with a full tank of gas, a full stomach and no commitments for the day!

Bye ’til next week,
Kathleen

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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 Islay
Creek in MDO this afternoon when the radio we carry for emergencies was
suddenly crackling with an excited voice- although the reception was
very poor I was barely able to make out the phrases “condor flying!’ and
then ‘yellow tag’ in the broken-up communications from my co-worker
Cathy Chambers. That got my attention. I was ‘trapped’ beneath the
willow canopy at the creek without the chance to see the condor in
flight somewhere above, but up on the Valencia Peak Trail at 700 feet
elevation Cathy and her students were watching in astonishment as a
yellow-tagged California Condor glided by along the slopes just below
eye-level only about 40 feet away and continued north, over the dunes
and towards the eucalyptus forest 1 mile away, before apparently turning
inland and eastward through the Irish Hills and was gone.

Others on the KEEP staff had also heard the radio communications and a
total of 5 staff members and dozens more of our students on their hikes
saw the condor in flight (some of the kids took photos). The condor
sighting was the talk of the day, overshadowing the excitement of a
possible flight of Pinyon Jays from the desert here along the coast.
Cathy had also reported the jays on her earlier morning hike up the same
mountain trail, seeing a dispersed flight of about 40 jays flying south
towards the Field’s Ranch- they were not Scrub or Steller’s Jays in her
estimation, but confirmation of this I.D. by other experienced birders
is needed if the flock can be refound.

The last condor report from Montana De Oro State Park that I am aware
of dates back about 30 years ago. MDO SP is on the coast south of Morro
Bay.

Steve Schubert

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Openhouse/Campout

Hi all,
The Oct. 4th-5th event was a great opportunity for many of us to
reconnect with friends, talk with colleagues and make new acquaintances.
70 people attended the 2nd annual open house events, and long-distance
travelers included Mike and Bronwyn (surprise!) driving down from Pt.
Reyes on their way south following their summer work in Alaska, Carole
from Cupertino, Kathy Ball from Sequoia National Forest in the central
Sierras, John Schmitt from Wofford Heights at Lake Isabella in the
southern Sierras, and from the south Marti Jenkins up from the Los
Angeles area, along with other folks attending from many points in
between from Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Monterey
Counties. Agencies, staff, and volunteers were represented from the U.S.
Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Hopper Mountain
National Wildlife Refuge, Morro Coast Audubon Society, Cal Poly
Biological Sciences Department and Wildlife Club, Ventana Wilderness
Society, Buck Rock Lookout Foundation, National Parks Service at
Pinnacles National Monument, Camp Roberts National Guard, and the Los
Angeles Zoo, among many other distinguished guests.

One uninvited but noted visitor arrived at 4am in the morning before
daybreak.
I was suddenly awakened in my sleeping bag by a distinct but soft ‘woof’
sound, then opened my eyes to see the silhouette of the head of a bear
in the darkness peering in at me from the open tail gate of my truck. My
startled wake-up call caused the bear to run a short distance away, but
as I sat up motionless and watched, I could see the form of the bear now
rambling away towards other campsites and parked vehicles with their
sleeping occupants, making a commotion along the way, so that several
others also had bear stories to tell as we gathered at breakfast time.

‘Thank-you’ to all of you who attended and the many staff and volunteers
who helped to make this such a successful event! Kathy Ball represented
the Forest Fire Lookout Association and presented a certificate and
plaque for the recent listing of Hi Mountain Lookout on the National
Historic Lookout Register.
John Schmitt donated his original 1978 Huff’s Hole peregrine falcon art
print and raffled another as a fund-raising donation to the lookout
project.The afternoon geology and native plant field trips were
well-attended, and about 40 people remained late into the evening -
after dinner and a nice sunset- for the power point and slide shows
presented by our guest speakers, followed by high-powered telescope and
binocular astronomical observations conducted by three members of the
Central Coast Astronomical Society. The quarter moon, Mars, twin stars
and star clusters, gaseous nebulae and the Andromeda Galaxy- two million
light years away- were spectacular to view in the starry night sky.

A number of those who camped out overnight gathered again at the lookout
in the morning for some good conversation, nostalgic remembrances, and
in-depth talk about the condor recovery program’s high points and lows,
until our final departures at noon. As time (and condors) continues to
fly by so fast, there is already talk about organizing next year’s 3rd
annual open house and campout. So, until next year…

Steve Schubert

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Hi Notes

Once again, I have about 3 weeks to catch up on. But to get right to
the Really Good Stuff…Yesterday after picking up signals from two
birds; OR209, a 4 1/2 year old male and W231, a 3 1/2 year old
female, and tracking them for about two hours, suddenly the signals
were coming from every direction, loud and strong. I frantically
looked for them with my binoculars but couldn’t find them. The
signals began to fade, along with my hopes. Then the signals came in
strong again and W231 flew right over my head as I stood on the cat-
walk of the lookout. I could read her wing tags!!! She was huge and
beautiful, white triangles under her wings and all. I can’t describe
the thrill of FINALLY seeing a Condor from the lookout!
Earlier that morning as I was out checking out the flora and fauna, I
saw a doe and her two fawns with a covey of Calif. Quail scurrying
around at their feet. I started to walk back up the road, then turned
around to take a picture, just in time to see a Bobcat meander across
the road behind them. Then a Northern Flicker circled around them and
flew off over the canyon. My reward for turning around breifly!
Speaking of flying, last week I watched a helicopter scour the
canyons and ridges to the East of the lookout for about two hours.
This week it was a small airplane…presumedly looking for evidence
of the pot farmers. Hi Mountain…hummmm.
And, speaking of Hi Mountain…looking forward to seeing many of you
this Saturday for all the festivies and great views of our beautiful
countryside. Come up and see what we are so fascinated with, week
after week!
Kathleen

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