Summer '05 Field Season

Since the inception of the Hi Mountain Lookout Project 9 years ago,
Morro Coast Audubon Society has had a rewarding and successful
collaboration with several organizations and many hard working staff and
volunteers. The rehabilitation of an old abandoned fire lookout into a
functioning biological research station and interpretive visitor center
has been a source of great satisfaction and pride for all involved in
the project.

This upcoming 2005 summer field season marks our 4th season of field
operations and demonstrates the breadth of these collaborative efforts.
MCAS has funded the purchase of a heavy security gate and signage that
will be installed by the U.S. Forest Service, providing staff time and
labor. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s condor staff will be
providing our interns and volunteers onsite field training in radio
tracking, note taking, and condor nest watching at Hopper Mountain
National Wildlife Refuge in Ventura County. The Ventana Wilderness
Society (VWS) near the Big Sur Coast continues to provide condor
movement information through GPS (global positioning systems) tracking,
with exact location data relayed to satellites in earth orbit by
transmitters attached to the wings of free-flying condors. Other VWS
condors equipped with radio transmitters are tracked from Hi Mountain
Lookout as they occasionally fly north and south through SLO CO on their
long flights from Big Sur country to Hopper Mountain refuge, and back
again. Hi Mountain Lookout staff also radio track condors released at
Pinnacles National Monument, in cooperation with the National Park
Service. One more example of our collaborative efforts: Dr. Francis
Villablanca through the Biological Sciences Department at Cal Poly has
recently obtained funding to hire and supervise 5 student interns, who
will be working in shifts staffing Hi Mountain Lookout (along with our
volunteers) full-time this summer! The focus of this student internship
will be on conducting several biological research projects at Hi
Mountain, including California Condor radio tracking, studying
ecological community dynamics by surveying resident and nesting birds,
live-trapping small mammals, conducting vegetation sampling, and
analyzing Geographical Information Systems (GIS) information- in study
plots set up within chaparral, oak woodland and riparian habitats. All 5
of these college students will be speaking and giving power point talks
about their research methodologies and findings, presented to professors
and their student peers at Cal Poly, following their summer internship
experiences at Hi Mountain Lookout.

Learn more about the Lookout Project at www.condorlookout.org

Visit the lookout this summer, tour the facilities and visitor center,
and participate in condor radio tracking demonstrations.
New volunteers are encouraged to get involved. Please contact me in
advance to make arrangements for a visit.

Steve Schubert
MCAS Volunteer Coordinator,
Hi Mountain Condor Lookout Project

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Lookout Visit

Hi all,

Today I drove a van field trip to Hi Mountain Lookout- with 11 participants- for a “Condor Country” class offered through Cuesta College Community Programs. Along Hi Mtn. Rd. we met up with the Pozo
Wildflower Weekend field trip led by Charlie Blair, President of the SLO chapter of the California Native Plant Society. After we looked over the vegetation growing on the serpentine outcrop along Hi Mtn. Rd., the wildflower group of 6 joined us at the lookout for lunch and discussion about the condor radio tracking project. In the afternoon we picked up a signal from one of the Pinnacles condors to the NW…that was the only condor radio signal we detected. Hopefully, a few new volunteers have been recruited for the project. Surprisingly, one of the participants in the wildflower field trip introduced herself as a past condor intern at Hopper Mountain N’tl Wildlife Refuge and this was her first visit to Hi Mtn.

The swallowtail butterflies are now up on the ridgeline in numbers, the deer flies are starting to bite, and this afternoon there was a flight of 1000’s of ladybird beetles all over the chaparral-covered ridgeline at Hi Mountain and swarming around the lookout- a constant movement of flying insects all about.

Compared to only one week ago, along Hi Mtn. Rd. there has been an ‘explosion’ of Mariposa lilies, Farewell-to-Spring (Clarkia), Larkspurs, and Chinese Houses flowers.

Steve Schubert

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Events

Hi all,
On Saturday, May 7th a group of a dozen volunteers and staff put in a 9 hour workday at Hi Mountain Lookout. A number of maintenance, repair, and general cleaning tasks were completed and everyone enjoyed the opportunity to talk and socialize throughout the day, catching up on things. This upcoming weekend (May 14th) is the annual Pozo Wildflower Weekend field trip up Hi Mountain Rd. to the lookout, sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service, and I will also be bringing a field trip there through Cuesta College Community Programs.

Steve Schubert

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Condor Sightings in SLO Co.

Hi all,

During the last ten days, 3 different observers with good descriptions have reported 2 condors flying together at the following locations: Santa Rosa Creek Rd. and Cypress Mountain Rd. intersection (12 miles east of Cambria), east Cuesta Ridge near the towers, and at Beartrap Mountain in the La Panza Range (historic condor nesting location). We will use the telonics to radio track condors at Hi Mountain Lookout this weekend, beginning a new field research season.

Steve Schubert

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2004 Year in Review

Hi all,
Here is a summary of the activities and accomplishments of the Hi
Mountain Lookout Project during 2004:

January-
Planning session at Cal Poly- 8 staff and volunteers, revising and
updating the Volunteer User Manual (revisions were completed by end of
2004 and the handbook will be distributed to all volunteers).

Morro Bay Natural History Museum Condor Exhibit Open House (the VWS
condor exhibit in the auditorium was on display for several months). Hi
Mtn. Project volunteers and collaborators were recognized at the evening
reception.

8th Annual Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival. ‘Condor Country’ van field
trip. USFWS Condor Recovery Program/Hi Mountain Project power point and
slide talk presentations.

February-
Morro Bay Natural History Museum Monday morning “Mind Walk” lecture
series: Condor Recovery Program and Hi Mountain Lookout Project slide
talk by Steve Schubert

March-
Work Weekend- 20 staff and volunteers. USFS contractor John Porter
conducted lookout safety improvements and lightning
protection/electrical grounding. MCAS funded the $2,700 labor and
materials costs.

April-
Annual Huff’s Hole peregrine falcon nesting survey. A condor was found
perched at a cave entrance there on the cliffs! Note: One evening
several months later 8 condors roosted overnight on these cliffs.
Possible future nesting attempts here will be closely monitored.

Cal Poly Ornithology field trip to Hi Mtn., led by Dr. Villablanca

May-
Cuesta College Community Programs “Condor Country” van field trip to the
lookout, led by Steve Schubert

June-
VHF Ham Radio Contest and Cal Poly Amateur Radio Club Field Day campout
at the lookout

Hiring of summer interns Jeremy White, Amy Millan, and Jenn Yost.
Internship funded by USFS and Cal Poly Bio. Sci. Dept., supervised by
Kevin Cooper and Dr. Francis Villablanca

Workday at the lookout- 9 staff and volunteers

July-
The three Hi Mtn.interns received field training and condor monitoring
experience at Hopper Mountain NWR, assisted by USFWS staff

August-
Planning meeting at Cal Poly attended by Hi Mtn. staff and volunteers,
USFWS, USFS, VWS, and Pinnacles NM staff

October-
3rd Annual Open House event and campout
~45 in attendance

Cal Poly Mammalogy field trip and campout at Hi Mtn., led by Dr.
Villablanca
December-
Completion of storage shed construction and shelving, by Kevin Cooper
and Tom Murphey, USFS

Ongoing activities-
Website (www.condorlookout.org) management and improvements by Paul
Andreano

Staffing of lookout by volunteers and training sessions for newly
recruited volunteers

Cal Poly senior project student research

Look for coverage of the Hi Mountain Lookout Project in an upcoming
issue of AUDUBON magazine and a KSBY TV interview (after the roads dry
up and accessibility to the lookout improves for the camera crew). The
lookout project has also been nominated for a San Luis Obispo County
environmental award, submitted by Dick Parker, MCAS President.

“Thank-you” to all who have contributed to our collaborative efforts!

Steve Schubert, Volunteer Coordinator

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Lichens at Hi Mt.

Hello all,
This weekend I attended the thirty-third annual banquet and program of the California Native Plant Society, San Luis Obispo Chapter. The guest speaker spoke to an audience of about 60 persons about lichens of San Luis Obispo County, a departure from the usual lecture topics about flowering and other vascular plants. Charis C. Bratt, a Lichenologist from the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden, began her presentation by talking about California Condors! She was a condor observer in the Santa Barbara backcountry in the 1970’s (she gives her ‘hello’ to Jan Hamber). While condors were sometimes away from the observation area days at a time, and having a lot of free time to look around, she first began (at the age of 50) to take notice of the lichens growing nearby. Now she is a world renowned lichenologist, consulted and visited by other lichen experts, and sometimes brings them to SLO Co. to study and collect the locally diverse lichen flora. After beginning the slide talk by mentioning that Diablo Canyon is internationally known for the lichen growth there and the Los Osos stabilized dunes are home to the endemic popcorn lichen, what really got my interest was a 5 minute discussion about Hi Mountain. The location is one of her favorite sites for viewing, photographing, and collecting lichens for study. Other lichen sites of interest she mentioned in ‘condor country’ in SLO CO were Caliente ridge, Castle Craggs and Pine Mountain. I enjoyed the talk.

Steve Schubert

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