"California Condors back"- by John FitzRandolf

Special to The SLO Telegram-Tribune by Hi Mountain volunteer John FitzRandolph

Posted on Sat, Sep. 09, 2006

For those keeping track of significant dates in California wildlife conservation history, mark April 19, 1987, in bright red ink.

On that day, the last free-flying Gymnogyps californianus — California Condor — was plucked from the wild and moved to a captive breeding program at the San Diego Zoo. Along with 26 other captured condors — all that remained from the estimated thousands who soared the western skies during the last Pleistocene epoch (ice age) 10,000 years ago — that last wild condor was knocking on extinction’s door.

Still, while North America’s largest birds, weighing up to 30 pounds with 91⁄2-foot wingspans, entered the boldest captive breeding program in U.S. history, high-visibility ornithologists, biologists and outdoor experts said it would never work.

Fortunately, those dissenters were wrong, and the condor has subsequently been resurrected, rolling away the stone of doubt for this and other endangered species.

Indeed, first-time visitors making the rocky 6-mile trek through the shallow Salinas River and up twisty Hi Mountain Road to the Hi Mountain Condor Lookout Project west of Pozo are discovering the California Condor Recovery Program is a sizzling success.

Let’s be clear: the chances of seeing a condor circling the Hi Mountain lookout site are slim, albeit the colossal birds do fly near the lookout on their pilgrimages between Big Sur/Pinnacles in Monterey County and Sespe Wilderness/Bitter Creek in Ventura County.

A pivotal point of the recovery effort is to encourage the condors to travel and socialize with other condors.

Biologists and Cal Poly interns use telemetry technology to track the condors’ movements, part of the Hi Mountain daily duties visitors can witness up close, as the birds fly, hang out and eat with other recently released condors.

Ultimately, the plan is for condors to cruise the state, find their own food, meet, mate, lay eggs, raise chicks and become prolific in the same way bald eagles re-emerged from near obscurity to their proud prolific population today. The Hi Mountain portion of that plan utilizes the combined resources of U.S. Forest

Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the Morro Coast Audubon Society.

Meanwhile, tentative plans are under way to create a central feeding location in the Santa Lucia Wilderness in San Luis Obispo County; condors from around the state would congregate and share nutritious meals of stillborn calves and fresh-thawed raw rats, mice and rabbits.

(Yes, that’s what they are fed by field biologists in the four release areas.)

As for the current free- flying condors, 28 thrive in the Ventana Wilderness area, 13 call Pinnacles

National Monument home, 22 live in the Sespe Wilderness and Bitter Creek areas in Ventura County and around 60 are in the Grand Canyon area.

Visitors to the Hi Mountain Research & Interpretive Center — on the ground floor of the lookout — have access to an impressive collection of native animal specimens, a Condor egg, feathers and more.

And speaking of impressive, the vistas from 3,180-foot Hi Mountain Condor Lookout are certainly that. On a clear day, looking south, the eye takes in Lopez Lake, Pismo Beach, the Nipomo Dunes, Avila and more; looking west, Santa Margarita Lake is like a little pond in the distance; to the north, Black Mountain, the San Andres Fault (Temblor Range) and some days even the snow-capped High Sierra Mountains are visible.

For camping enthusiasts, the drive up Hi Mountain Road to the condor lookout leads to the U.S. Forest

Service Hi Mountain Campground; ten campsites offer fire rings and picnic tables; it’s first-come, first served and about a mile and a half below the lookout. Other nearby hiking trails and an invitation to the public to attend the Hi Mountain Condor Lookout Open House on Oct. 14 is available online at www.condorlookout.org.

Original article:
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispotribune/sports/15478246.htm

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BEARS!

Hi all,

The past couple weeks at the lookout I haven’t tracked many condors in the area. I think I could count the number of signals I picked up on one hand. Although there were few condors in the area the past couple weeks, there were other guests of the lookout- furry ones. I finally saw some bears, two to be exact. They were scampering along Hi Mtn Road between the campground and the lookout, and of course I “heard” the bears later that night just outside the lookout! They were
magnificent creatures, but it was sad to see that they were probably attracted to the area by leftover trash from visitors at the campground below the lookout.

The next time any of you are up at the lookout keep an eye out for the bears near the campgrounds.

Stuart Vik

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Last Weekend at Hi Mountain

So this past weekend was the end of my intern and as I drove away I left part of my summer behind. I would just like to say that Hi Mtn was an amazing opportunity and I’m so glad that I was able to partake in it. Ever since my first time to the lookout (fall 2005), I loved the views, the wilderness, and the actual lookout. This summer was a< blast! I’ve met a lot of really interesting/cool people. Whether it was condor biologists or condor visitors or just a drive by visitor, they all will be remembered as one of the best summers in my life. no joke.

I must say, even though I didn’t see any condors from the lookout, going to Hopper and Ventana reassured that what we did at Hi Mtn was an important part of the recovery program.

Highlights of Hi Mtn:
Bobcats running up the road, coyote at the base of the mtn, deer, poorwills at night, baby quail, dense fog setting of the smoke alarm, sitting in the rain collection tank because of the very hot weather, a hummingbird perched on the antenna while I was scanning for condors, hummers in the lookout, my dogs chasing each other around the outside of the lookout, the domestic cat, now named Condi and is doing well at the CP Cat Shelter, rattlesnake that Marcelle almost stepped on during orientation. That’s all I can think about for now.

Hi Mtn. and the experiences that came with it, will always be something I will never forget. As I head back to the East Coast for a mini vacation before school, I can’t wait to tell my family about condors and tell them my summer stories. I look forward to going back to Hi Mtn as much as possible and can’t wait for Open House.

~Meghan

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Condors and Hi Mt. Interns

As a Hi Mtn volunteer, I wanted to give another perspective on this
summer’s interns & their visits to the two condor release sites . . .

First, I want to say that I think these trips are important since the
interns are tracking these birds every day and otherwise, might never
get to see them! The intern’s interaction with the field biologists and
the work they do to help the condors recover is valuable for them to see
the “real” lives of the people who are dedicated and working so hard to
have this program succeed.

Back at the beginning of July, Kelly, Meghan, Karine (Stuart was out of
town) & I drove down to visit Hopper Mountain. Dan Tappe of US Fish &
Wildlife Service was our “guide” - As soon as we arrived, we were able
to view roosting condors in snags - we were joined by one of their
interns who brought a scope and a group hiked down to get a closer look
- We stayed at the “ranch” with Dan & the three Hopper Mt. interns (one
coincidentally also from Cal Poly) and the next day toured the whole
site, visiting their empty fly pen (as their birds had been moved out to
Bitter Creek), catching views of Lake Piru, viewing a nest site w/ a
chick inside & parent(s) guarding outside! It was very thrilling and
rewarding.

Then, last week, Stuart, Meghan, Karine (Kelly is away), John (who wrote
the LA Times article about Hi Mtn last fall) and I went to meet Sayre
Flannagan at the Ventana Wildlife Society office at Andrew Molera State
Park in Big Sur. We met one of their interns, Joseph Brandt, (who is
just finishing his internship) and their brand new intern: Abbey.

We caravaned into the Ventana Wilderness for over two hours to find a
rustic “cabin” with a distant view of one of their condor feeding sites
(a scope allows for identifying the birds that visit that site). Joe
Burnett joined us and we spent time helping them clear brush from the
footprint of their new flypen. As Joe chainsawed more brush, the interns
dragged it, stacked it and got scratched up by ceonothus and madrone.
We enjoyed a meal together watching the sunset over the Pacific Ocean.
The next day there was more clearning . . .with shoveling & raking to
help improve the road to the flypen. There were a couple of large
madrone stumps that needed clearing (Only one got successfully moved. .
.) We dug a trench and laid a water line. It was hot, dusty work with
pesky flies in your nose, mouth, eyes & ears . . .we all have bruises
and scratches but no one complained! The interns worked hard and I
think helped immensely (and John & I both wished we weren’t senior
citizens! My back still aches!)

We were all able to observe junvenile condors and mature condors
interacting, feeding, socializing and the interns “knew” the specific
birds that they had “tracked’ this summer!

I am most impressed that our Hi Mtn interns want to do this type of
selfless work to help wildlife and nature and that they had the
oppportunity to see such fine role models, dedicated and living the
lifestyle it takes to protect an endangered species.

I am grateful and humbled by all my experiences with the people who are
trying to make this recovery program work! Hope to see YOU all at the
Hi Mountain Open House Sat. Oct 14th so that you too can meet these
awesome people!

Marcelle

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Week Trip

Just thought I would let everyone know that the Hi Mtn Interns had a blast at Ventana. I would just like to extend my thanks to everyone at Ventana for having us! Besides extremely bad poison oak and mosquito bites I had a lot of fun clearing brush in order for a new flight pen to be built. I found it amazing how we watched the sunset and ate every meal with condors near by. Hi mountain was the same, still no sight of condors. However, there was a baby coast horned lizard sitting on the wall along the driveway. It was so tiny and cute! That’s all I can think of for now.

Later, Meghan

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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

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