Summer 2006

This summer has been amazing! We started the summer with a trip to Hopper, where we saw about 10 Condors. This was amazing must of us had never seen a California Condor so it was a thrilling experience. The rest of the summer has been spent tracking these wonderful birds,
some days we get over 10 different signals, other days fewer but everyday is a new experience at the lookout. Although there has not been a Condor sighting at the lookout the sightings of other wildlife
are abundant. There have been sightings of Black Bears, Bobcats, Coyotes, Poorwill and a Golden Eagle to name a few. OF course there are the resident birds which include Dark-eyed Junco, Band-tailed Pigeon, California Towhee, Bewick’s Wren and Anna’s Hummingbird. The hummingbirds have been going crazy with about 20 or more visiting the lookout daily! NOt only is the lookout visited by wildlife but we have had many visitors over the past couple weeks including a group from
Pozo on the 4th of July, the Atascadero Fire Crew, a couple from Michigan and some kids from Napa Valley. All of the visitors have been extremely excited about Condors and the lookout.
The weather has been interesting as well. Some days it is so hot with temperatures in the upper 90’s and then just two days ago it was in the 60’s. This past weekend the humidity was over 85% and the fog was so thick you could only see for a 100 feet.

I hope everyone else is enjoying their summer as much as we are at the lookout!!
Take Care, Kelly

Read More

Crazy July up at Hi Mt.

The month of July has been an exciting month for all the interns. We’ve been able to master the equipment, track condors successfully, and learn to manage life in the wilderness. So far we haven’t seen any condors hanging out by the lookout, but we’ve been tracking a lot of Pinnacle birds and a few from Hopper and Ventana. Hopper called us the other day, because they lost signals from another bird. We finally tracked the bird a few days later and everyone was very excited to hear the good news. The past weekends up at the lookout have been very hot and hardly any wind, the dogs don’t like this weather at all. Karine and I have made several trips down the mountain to the Forest Station to get ice in order to keep semi-cool. Then we stop by the creek and let the dogs go swimming for a while to cool off. Last weekend, what a change. I got up there on friday in shorts and a t-shirt. I later had to put on sweat pants and a thermal. Well, mother nature once again played a trick on me. It was only 65 and 35 mph winds. Later that day the fog blew in and set off the smoke alarm, because of the humidity. Needless to say I woke up the next morning and I couldn’t see no more than 150 feet because of the dense fog. No condors yet, but the other wildlife has kept us entertained for the time being. That’s it for now.

~Meghan

Read More

Hi Mt. Visit

Hi all,
I sent this out to some of you, here it is again. Good feedback for the project.
Steve

Date: Sat, May 27, 2006, 9:34pm Subject: A nice surprise!

Steve,
I am an avid outdoorsman and Dual Sport motorcycle rider and would like to put in a good word for the volunteers who were working the lookout on May 27,2006. I was a first time visitor today and had no idea there would be anyone up here. Well I have to say that I was quite surprised to see someone here and was rewarded with a warm welcome and tour of the facilities. What a treat it was to be in such a remote and scenic area only to find such nice people as your volunteers were. I realize that
some hikers and bird watchers frown on the Dual Sport aspect but I must say that I was treated with a warm welcome and the hospitality was superb. I plan on bringing my wife and kids up to see the Lookout and will always extend my fullest courtesy to those on foot. Thanks Again for a great experience and best wishes.

Phillip Eubank

Read More

Hi Mt Visit

I am an avid outdoorsman and Dual Sport motorcycle rider and would like
to put in a good word for the volunteers who were working the lookout on
May 27,2006. I was a first time visitor today and had no idea there
would be anyone up here. Well I have to say that I was quite surprised
to see someone here and was rewarded with a warm welcome and tour of the
facilities. What a treat it was to be in such a remote and scenic area
only to find such nice people as your volunteers were. I realize that
some hikers and bird watchers frown on the Dual Sport aspect but I must
say that I was treated with a warm welcome and the hospitality was
superb. I plan on bringing my wife and kids up to see the Lookout and
will always extend my fullest courtesy to those on foot.  Thanks Again
for a great experience and best wishes.
Phillip Eubank

Read More

10-Year Anniversary Event

Hello all,
Twenty-two people attended the Hi Mountain Lookout Project 10-year anniversary event. During the lunch break we were joined by another 15 who were attending the annual Pozo Wildflower Weekend field trip.

Special guest Don Parham shared his recollections of the 1970*s Huff*s Hole peregrine falcon nest watch. Hi Mountain Lookout was staffed by volunteers from Morro Coast Audubon Society, working several day shifts, observing and protecting the endangered peregrine site each nesting season before the USFS fire lookout would come on duty. It was great to have Don make a visit again after all these years!

We also appreciated an update on the condor recovery program and recent events at Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge, presented by USFWS biologist Dan Tappe.

It was a good day to be up on the mountain!

-Steve Schubert

Read More

Huff's Hole Report

Hi all,
On Saturday, April 22nd, Kevin Cooper and I made our annual hiking trip to Huff’s Hole, in the Santa Lucia Wilderness Area, below Hi Mountain Lookout. The Salinas River crossing near Pozo is 4 feet deep, so we had to drive in on Hi Mtn. Rd. from Lopez Lake, park at the locked gate and take the Hi Valley route into Huff’s Hole. We were on the trail at 7:30 am during a light, steady rain.

Wearing rain gear was more important in helping to shed the dripping water plowing through the overgrown drenched vegetation along the trail. It seemed the sheet flow of water off our raingear helped to also shed the abundant ticks , but it remains to be seen if it repelled poison oak oils too!

The rains let up as the day progressed, with high cloudy overcast skies and a cool breeze. We were unable to get all the way into Huff’s Hole due to the downed trees, brush and poison oak beyond Hi Valley Rock- we had not seen the trail blocked by so much downed vegetation in the past 10 years and speculated it may have been caused by the weight of the March snowfalls that may have bent and snapped so many stems and trunks. Much of the Ceanothus more than 20 feet tall and several inches in diameter - regrowth since the 1985 Las Pilatas fire - was shattered and bent over the trail, with poison oak that had been growing in the brush canopy now at face-level and blocking the way. We cut and sawed our way through the downed brush and poison oak until finally having to give up, but had a good distant view of the Huff’s Hole cliffs from a sideways angle, and also from up higher where I climbed up on Hi Valley Rock.

We found a nesting pair of prairie falcons- there were food and incubation exchanges between the adults at a small pothole eyrie located on a large outcrop between Hi Valley Rock and the main Huff’s Hole cliffs. Further down on the cliffs in the distance we could hear another falcon wailing, and with bincoulars finally located a perched bird on the rocks about 3/4 mile from our vantage point- a peregrine falcon. The peregrines are probably also nesting somewhere there on the cliffs at Huff’s Hole, within 1/2 mile and a direct line of view of the prairie falcons, so this is relatively close nesting proximity between the two species often territorial and aggressive.

There were deep black bear tracks in the wet mud from the overnight rains. The bear must have been there only hours at most prior to our passing. We found bear tracks in Hi Valley, around the base of Hi Valley Rock and the trail into Huff’s Hole. Scat on the trail and scratches on the tree trunks were other signs.

Flowers observed from Hi Mtn. Rd. into Hi Valley and along Huff’s Hole trails: black sage, pitcher sage, hummingbird sage, prickly phlox, clematis, ceanothus, bush poppies, mountain mahogany, buttercups, shooting stars, chocolate lily, California peony, sanicula, blue-eyed grass, annual lupine, filaree, blue dicks, yellow violets (Johnny jump-ups)

Bird vocalizations/singing: California thrasher, wrentit, bewick’s wren, house wren, canyon wren, spotted towhee, California towhee, oak titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch, orange-crowned warbler, warbler spp., white-throated swift, western scrub jay, Steller’s jay, ash-throated flycatcher, cedar waxwing, common raven, prairie falcon, peregrine falcon

Turkey vultures were in flight and perching on the Huff’s Hole cliffs. Strangely, what was not seen flying around Hi Valley Rock or Huff’s Hole cliffs was a single swallow, completely absent from the area during several hours of observing.

It was uncharacteristic to hear Kevin complain about leg muscle soreness and fatigue while we were hiking, but then his excuse seemed reasonable being that he ran the Boston Marathon only 5 days previous! My excuse is just getting older… turning 51 years old this weekend. I celebrated my 23rd and 24th birthdays in Huff’s Hole, camped out as a peregrine nest site attendant, so the years are flying by…still grateful to be able to get back in there all these years later.

We hope to get some help - volunteers? - to finish the trail clearing this season and maybe return to check on the nesting status of the Huff’s Hole peregrines. Two years ago we also found a condor perched on the edge of a large cave there.

Steve Schubert
Volunteer Coordinator, Hi Mountain Lookout Project

Read More