Donations

The Hi Mountain Lookout Project has received the following donations.
Thank-you!

Supplies and materials:

Sara Silverberg, Arroyo Grande -- plastic cups, plates, napkins, bowls &
silverware

Marcelle Bakula, Cambria -- fixing/reframing interpretive center photos

Financial donations:

Michael and Phyllis Hischier, San Luis Obispo

Paul and Judith Burkhardt, Creston

Donations can be made by writing a check to

'MCAS Hi Mountain Project" and mailing to:

Morro Coast Audubon Society

Po Box 1507
Morro Bay, CA 93443-1507



Contributions are tax deductible under IRS Code 501(c)(3).




Morro Coast Audubon Society tax I.D. # 23-7165021

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Hi Mtn. workday Dec. 11th

Hello all,
Eight of us put in a full workday at the lookout Saturday. An unrelenting
northeasterly -offshore- wind blew throughout the day from 20-35 mph, with a
maximum wind gust of 45 mph. Great visibility towards the coast and coastal
mountains south into the Santa Barbara backcountry. Two Red-tailed hawks hovered
into the wind throughout the day, hunting near the lookout. It was nice to make
a visit this time of the year and see the fall colors -oaks and sycamores -
along the drive up Hi Mountain Rd. and a spectacular showing of Toyon
-'Christmas Berry'- shrubs in bright color mixed in across the wooded slopes.

Marcelle, Kevin, and Joel updated the condor radiotracking frequencies, Chris
worked on repairs to the WeatherElement online weather station, Dave and Joel
dug away the slumping soil around the new post gate, Kevin repaired the roof to
the kiosk, Dave began installing the 12-volt display lights in the glass case
and I worked on organizing the recently purchased educational activities and
supplies for kids. We put in some time discussing and planning for the year
ahead, especially with the upcoming establishment of a condor supplemental
feeding/release site nearby in San Luis Obispo County.

Photos of the Dec. 11th workday event are posted at our Hi Mountain Lookout
facebook page...take a look at the last 14 photos in the "Workdays at the
Lookout" photo album.

Steve Schubert

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Open House 2011 Schedule

Hi Mountain Condor Lookout Project will celebrate its 10th Anniversary on

Saturday, October 1st, 2011

Schedule of Activities:

Bird Watching Field Trip 9:00am - 11:30am

Pozo to Hi Mountain (elev. 3,199 ft), Los Padres National Forest

Meet 9am at Pozo Ranger. Car pooling from Pozo is recommended. Easy hiking conditions.

Habitats: grassland, riparian woodland (at Salinas River crossing), oak woodland & chaparral

Field trip leader: Michaela Koenig, Hi Mtn. Lookout Project volunteer and past student intern

NOTE: advanced registration is required for participation in the birding field trip. Contact Steve at s_schub1@ msn.com or phone #805 528-6138

Lookout Volunteer Service Project: repaint the water cistern; meet with Kevin Cooper, 10am at the lookout

Kids activities meet with Hannah Tillmann, Cal Poly student intern, beginning 11:00am Condor biology / radio tracking demonstrations, making plaster-of-paris animal tracks, afternoon nature hike on the lookout road down to the gate and back

Picnic lunch 11:30am – 12:30pm

-tour the Hi Mountain Lookout facilities and Interpretive Center

- sign guest register

Welcoming comments 12:30pm

Introductions of Hi Mountain Lookout staff, volunteers, and student interns

Steve Schubert, Volunteer Coordinator, Morro Coast Audubon Society


Morning birding field trip report by trip leader

Updates from the California Condor field staff

Afternoon activities and field trips:

Geographical landmarks - a 360 degree view from the Pacific coast to the Sierra Nevada - and demonstration of the original Hi Mountain Lookout firefinder

Kevin Cooper, USFS Wildlife Biologist

Condor radio tracking demonstrations by lookout staff and volunteers

Kids nature hike along Hi Mountain Lookout Road

Native plant identification walk and geology overview on Hi Mountain Lookout Road along the crest of the Santa Lucia Mountains by Dr. Dirk Walters and Dr. David Chipping

Saucelito Canyon Vineyards wine serving, compliments of Nancy Greenough

Sunset watch and dinner (wear layered clothing)

Gas stove and oven in the lookout facilities are available for cooking and heating food. Participants are encouraged to bring a potluck dish to share with their friends and guests.

Note: no campfires are permitted for cooking or the overnight campout.

Evening program: 7pm Powerpoint slide show presentations by the 2011 Cal Poly student interns - biological field research projects, remote wildlife camera photography and summer internship experiences - followed by a landscape and wildlife photography multimedia presentation by Steve Schubert

Telescopes will be set up in the evening for astronomy observations

Optional Hi Mountain Campout

Camping sites are available Saturday night at ‘Cypress Hill’ near the lookout. Other vehicle camping sites are located on the ridgeline near the entrance gate on Hi Mountain Rd.,with a view overlooking the mountains and coast, and also at the USFS Hi Mountain Campground located one mile down the road from the lookout. There are picnic tables and outhouses at the campground - bring your own potable water.

For additional information about the open house event and driving directions to Hi Mountain Lookout, see our website at www.condorlookout.org and view photos of past open house events at the Hi Mountain Lookout Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/Hi-Mountain-Lookout

Please contact Steve Schubert at s_schub1@ msn.com or phone # (805) 528-6138 to RSVP if you are planning to attend the open house event and the number of people in your group.

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Last intern update

Hello Everyone!
We just finished our last week up at Hi Mountain on Wednesday! We ended the year
with all of the interns up at the lookout for the last few days together. It was
a little squished with all 6 of us hanging out in the lookout but we were in
great company.
I will keep this update short as I am sure most of you will be up at the lookout
for open house. We will be rehashing our research experiences up there for all
to hear!
We got some great pictures on our wildlife camera this week including a
California Thrasher, Gray Fox and a Black Bear (that somewhat resembled
sasquatch, it had just rolled around in the creek and was soaking wet)! Grace
should be emailing out pictures soon.
Final P. boylii count: 10 speciminesFinal Dipodomes spp. count: 4 specimines
We are now working on entering/correcting data which will take a couple of
weeks.
Thank you all for reading the updates this summer and I hope to see you all at
open house!
-Hannah

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Field Research Projects

Hello all,
This morning Los Padres wildlife biologist Kevin Cooper and I accompanied two of
the Hi Mountain Cal Poly student interns 2.5 miles along the Trout Creek trail
to one of their study plots within the Garcia Mountain Wilderness Area in Los
Padres National Forest. Ashley and Natalie checked the 15 small mammal
live-trapping stations within the study plot and came up with two newly captured
Brush Mice and one recaptured, ear-tagged Pinyon Mouse (what big ears they
have!). The interns weighed, recorded body length, tail and ear measurements,
ear-tagged and released the mice, then moved on to the next set of live-traps
within the study plot. Kevin and I enjoyed watching the interns at work,
observing the field techniques and their enthusiasm for the rigors of field work
-making long hikes in rough terrain to set up the live-traps in the evening and
rechecking the traps again early the next morning. We appreciate the efforts of
all the 5 student interns and volunteers working at Hi Mountain Lookout this
summer.

I posted photos of today's outing at the Hi Mountain Lookout Facebook page, at
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hi-Mountain-Lookout/133314096701332<https://www.f\
acebook.com/pages/Hi-Mountain-Lookout/133314096701332>
A nice view of Hi Mountain Lookout was seen on the summit in the distance.

Steve Schubert

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Intern Update Weeks 7 and 8

Hi Everyone!
We have just completed out 8th week up at Hi Mountain and have several updates
to share.

In these past two weeks, both groups have been spending their time in a mixture
of oak woodland and chaparral plots. The chaparral plots are proving to be
extremely different from one another...depending on location a plot may be
extremely diverse (even harbor a few Dipodomys spp.) or extremely bland as far
as small mammal species go. This week our group trapped in chaparral plot #8,
which should be named "woodrat heaven". Although this plot had an extremely low
trap success, more than 50% of the animals we did catch were Neotoma macrotis
(dusky-footed woodrat). It was fun to practice holding those little fluff balls
that sound amazingly like doggie chew-toys when they are picked up. FUN FACT
(from Grace Mannell): It is rumored that Walt Disney modeled Mickey Mouse after
a woodrat he found in his back yard!

Last week we trapped in two special locations: 1) the long-awaited burned plot
and 2) a very interesting oak woodland plot that seems to have transitioned more
into chaparral in recent years. Both plots were incredibly different than
anything we have trapped in before. The burned plot harbored a great variety of
species (Peromyscus maniculatus, Peromyscus truei, Peromyscus californicus,
Neotoma macrotis, Chaetodipus californicus and Reithrodontomys megalotis) but
unfortunately not any Dipodomys species. The chaparral/oak woodland plot also
harbored the same list of species in addition to Peromyscus boylii (we brought a
sample home), Dipodomes venustus and potentially Dipodomys hermannii. We were
not able to collect the Dipodomys species (because they were not caught on the
last day of trapping) but this information will be useful to future interns who
will use high-density trapping strategies in places where we have found
kangaroo-rat presence.

Camera Update: We have now had our camera up for two whole weeks! The first week
was quite uneventful...400 pictures of willow leaves and maybe one or two of a
song sparrow examining our cat food bait in a confused manner. This week was
much more exciting (after we got rid of the troublesome leaves): squirrels,
chipmunks, bobcats, birds, raccoons (which was exciting- at first glance they
look a lot like ringtails which are also in the Procyonidae family) and of
course, the classic pictures of us crawling around trying to make sure the
camera works. To top off all of the wildlife pictures, a brown tree frog covered
the lens of the camera when it was checked (yielding a few comical brown-smudgy
pictures of frog belly). Grace will be sending out exciting pictures in the next
week or so.

We had an eventful visit from Kevin Cooper and Steve Schubert on Monday. Grace
and Andrew had the privilege of working with them throughout the day to get
ready for open house and had lovely discussions on the lookout history and
geography of Hi Mountain and surrounding areas (I was playing hooky- backpacking
along the Carson River, but ended up meeting with everyone at the end of the
day).

One more last thing, we found a Giant Desert Scorpion milling about the floor of
the lookout JUST as we were about to fall asleep on Monday night. What a
surprise! Luckily, we were able to catch it and filled a nice little tupperware
with rocks and sand and fed it crickets that Ninja Andrew caught by hand! It is
rumored that Grace might keep it as a pet.Grace- "I think I really like scary
animals"Hannah- "Only when they are confined within tupperware"Grace- "Haha
that's SO true"
That's all for now!
-Hannah

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