Aug 26-28 Condor Flyby

Had a wonderful three days at the lookout this week. Tuesdays main
objective was tracking the travels of Condor or208 as it spent the
day moving through our county. I first picked up 208 at 320 degrees
from the lookout generally in the direction of Atascadero/Paso
Robles. Tracked this bird as it made its way along the Santa Lucias
at one point probably flying over parts of east San Luis Obispo and
the Cuesta Grade. After getting strong intermittent signals which
were cutting in and out as if on the other side, west slope, of the
Santa Lucias this bird came fast directly towards the lookout. I had
strong soaring signals to the south of the lookout and strained my
eyes looking for the bird down towards Lopez Lake. Suddenly directly
over Hi Valley rock about ½ mile away I noticed about 6 Turkey
Vultures soaring. I grabbed by binos and right in the middle of them
was a huge steady soaring California Condor. Primaries splayed in
full soar steadily circling. This huge bird made the vultures look
like novices as they rocked back and forth with the wind seemingly
out of control. The calm and controlled condor then made its way
towards Pozo staying east of the lookout leaving the TV’s and then
followed the Garcia Ridge to the east and south towards Cuyama
Valley. While all this was going on another bird or209 decided to
move north leaving the southern flock of condors in Santa Barbara
county and choosing the La Panza range as its guide and thereby out
of visible range. This bird stayed in San Luis Obispo county for at
least the next day and a half spending the remainder of Tuesday and
Tuesday night roosting somewhere not to far northwest of the
lookout. All through Wedensday and most of Thursday I continued to
get signals from this bird although maybe further north then the day
before. By now the bird is probably with the handful of birds in Big
Sur. The rest of the Big Sur flock are still on extended vacation
mingling with the southern flock near Hopper NWR.

Birds around the Lookout are becoming more visible feeding on the
ripening coffeeberries. In one bush there were 4 Thrashers and a
Black-headed Grosbeak all chowing down on the sweet berries. The
number of Selasphorus hummingbirds is up with a ratio of maybe 1 to
every 5 Anna’s and man some of them can be mean. Only one solid
Rufuous and only one male Black-chinned. Don’t know what happen to
the tiny gray Costa’s. A Cooper’s Hawk was a nice surprise, they
have been very uncommon for at least the last few months.

Mike

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Buck Rock Lookout

This past week I was privileged to get to stay overnight and ’staff’
Buck Rock Lookout, perched on a high granite dome at 8,500 ft. elevation
in Sequoia National Forest. I had a brief visit with Kathy Ball, who has
staffed the lookout since 1997 and is President of the Buck Rock
Foundation, an organization devoted to the preservation of fire lookouts
and their historical heritage, and providing the public with educational
opportunities.
The Hi Mtn. Lookout Project seems to work well within these foundation’s
goals. Visit the Buck Rock Foundations website, with photos and more
information about the lookout, at:
www.msnhomepages.talkcity.com/NonProfitBlvd/buckrockfoundation/

Just as I arrived in the early evening for my first time visit to Buck
Rock, after driving through Sequoia NP earlier in the day, Kathy was
unfortunately locking everything up and on her way home, because of a
dentist appointment the next morning. She made the nice offer to allow
me to occupy the lookout by myself, instead of camping out that night at
a local Forest Service campground as I had originally intended. I
climbed the 172 steps on the stairway clinging to the nearly vertical
escarpment, reaching the lookout catwalk just in time to take sunset
photos. The lookout is perched precariously on a granite pinnacle at
8,500 ft. elevation., with nearly vertical rock walls falling away on
all sides just a few feet from the lookout platform, and a dark green
canopy of montane coniferous forest lying hundreds of feet below. The
spectacular views include the High Sierra backcountry of Kings Canyon
and Sequoia National Parks, peaks of the Great Western Divide,
surrounding canyons and slopes down to the lower foothills, and across
the Central Valley the outline of the Coast Range in the far distance.
After dark, the city lights of the San Joaquin Valley glowed from Fresno
to Visalia. Mars rose in brilliance (as it is now approaching its
closest distance to earth in perhaps the last 60,000 years!) and a
quarter moon rose near midnight over the Sierran crest, nearly as bright
orange as Mars due to all the smoke from a large fire burning in the
mountainous wilderness to the east. Meteors streaked across the starry
night sky, and distant lightning flashes lit the sky to the north.

Scampering around the lookout- once bumping into my shoe on the catwalk,
then turning tail and running away- was a bushytail woodrat ( a “life”
species for me). It occurred to me I should go and close the lookout
door in case the large rodent got inside and started gnawing and
creating a commotion indoors all night long. Just minutes later Kathy
called me on the phone to tell me she forgot to tell me earlier about
the woodrat which would come inside if I didn’t keep the door shut!

I was awake the next morning to see the rising sun break the crest of
the Sierras. Visitors that morning included a young couple who live in
Guam, and some mountain bikers, all huffing and puffing their way up the
stairway. A visitor of note in September 2001 was Huell Howser, who
interviewed Kathy Ball and produced a 30 minute episode on Buck Rock
Lookout for his “California Gold” PBS television series.

That morning, before departing for a drive and a hike in the forest
among a Giant Sequoia grove, I studied the maps and practiced getting
compass bearings on geographical features through the sightings of the
fire finder. This is the original fire finder still in use since the
lookout was constructed in 1923. All in all, it was quite an experience
and privilege to get to occupy Buck Rock Lookout!

Kathy Ball has recently put in a lot of time and effort researching Hi
Mtn. Lookout and wrote up the nomination to list Hi Mountain Lookout
under the Forest Fire Lookout Association’s National Lookout Registry.
Kathy has been very supportive of the Hi Mtn. project and continues to
provide important advice and useful information from the perspective of
someone who has years of experience preserving and staffing an historic
fire lookout. Kathy also put us in touch with a forest service
contractor who has worked at Buck Rock and several other Sierra
lookouts, and is scheduling a lightning and safety consultation at Hi
Mtn. Lookout. We will be contracting his labor to get the much needed
work done soon
.
These connections between Buck Rock and Hi Mountain lookouts spans the
distance from the Sierra Nevada to the Coast Range, in our mutual
efforts to preserve, staff and use our historic fire lookouts in both
traditional and new innovative ways.

Steve Schubert
Volunteer Coordinator, Hi Mountain Condor Lookout Project

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August 18-21

Hi all,

Spent half of Monday driving the great dirt roads in the La Panza
mountains. My mission was to post signs, in English and Spanish, at
the major gathering areas for hunters and other recreationists in the
area in an effort to notify the public that condors were using the
area and what the public could do to `Help Save the California
Condor’. I visited the campgrounds such as La Panza, Friis, and
Navajo, parking areas Turkey Flats and Navajo Flats, and the
trailhead to the Machesna Mountain Wilderness near Castle Crags.
Being Monday afternoon there weren’t too many people out except for
two gentlemen camped at La Panza and 3 vehicles, two of which were
hunters who were in search for a buck. Talked to one friendly hunter
who knew exactly what I was doing out there. He knew that condors
were possible in the area and had been in the Hi Mountain area
recently and ran into Kathleen who was also posting signs. I made it
back to Hi Mountain around 9:00pm. Tuesday - Thursday at the lookout
was very comfortable, SW winds were keeping it humid and temperatures
in the 60s and 70s were a nice break from the normally hot weather to
be expected this time of year, even had a few sprinkles on Thursday.
Condors were out daily to the SE on the Sierra Madre, one of their
favorite places to visit while away from the Hopper Mountain NWR.
Had a nice visit from Karen Wood of Friends of Lopez Lake and The
Dunes Center in Guadalupe and also a USFS fire crew from hwy 166 who
were filling in for our local Pozo crew.

Check out the updated pics at the Summer 2003 Interns’ Archive:
http://www.geocities.com/himountainlookout

Mike

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More Sierra Madre

Hi all,

Just spent another weekend on the Sierra Madre, this time accompanied by
Anthony Prieto of Santa Barbara. For those of you who don’t know
Anthony, he is a long-time volunteer with the Recovery Program, an avid
hunter, an artist, and a Spanish speaker. He painted the amazing condor
mural on the Hi Mt. Lookout. Anthony and I spent Saturday and Sunday
driving the ridge from Santa Barbara Canyon to Miranda Pines. Though
there were fewer hunters out this weekend, thanks to Anthony’s Spanish
skills, we were able to talk with every group we came across. We were
armed with a new round of USFWS fliers written in Spanish(!!) and had
some great conversations with folks from as far a way as Riverside,
Lancaster, Pomona, and San Bernadino.

Seems as though most of the hunters on the Sierra Madre are aware of the
lead issue and have modified their hunting practices in an effort to
protect their hunting environment. Again, we ran into a few who had
already read Dr. Fry’s report, and again, some were more skeptical than
others. After two weekends on the Ridge, I feel like there are two
distinct subsets of hunters out there. The majority seem to be
exceptionally responsible folks who are already using (some for years
now) copper- jacketed or all-copper loads. Common bullets used by these
folks included Barnes-X, Nosler, Winchester Fail-Safe, Hornidy
Innerbond, and Federal, most of which are hand loaded by the hunter. The
minority of Sierra Madre hunters seem to be those folks who buy the
cheapest, most readily available factory loads for their rifle. These
hunters often had no idea what brand they were shooting, usually pulling
a shell out of their pocket to check the brand name for us. Everyone we
talked to, though, seemed to understand the necessity to bury their
gutpiles and recover their bullets. On a happy note, I noticed that the
trash buildup along the road and at McPherson Gate was dramatically
reduced from last weekend, so someone is obviously cleaning up after
themselves and others out there.

Though we had no condors to track along the Ridge last weekend, I feel
like we made some great connections and most folks seemed happy to see
“the condor people” out amongst the hunt. Almost every hunter who has
used this area for a few years has a condor story to tell. Trips like
this are are great opportunities to connect with hunters, spread the
word, and to let them know that the Recovery Program doesn’t view them
as enemies, but as potential partners. I can honestly say the the bulk
of the hunters we spoke with over the last two weekends on the Ridge
feel no resentment toward the condor and the Recovery Program at all.
They are just as awed by the condor as anyone else and willing to do
what they can to help them along the rocky road to recovery.

Paul Andreano

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August 12-14 at the lookout

 was at the lookout this week August 12-14th. On Tuesday I only

picked up two birds all day, or208 and or209 both to the southeast
towards the Sierra Madre ridge. I had signals overnight for 208 who
must have most likely been staying the night on the Madre. On
Wednesday I drove up Garcia Ridge road a few miles from the lookout
for some early morning signals. As predicted still had 208 towards
the Sierra Madre as I took signals and listening to a Canyon Wren’s
song. The same boulders the wren called home were also responsible
for not being able to get any further down the ridge as this rocky
section required something with a little more clearance then the
Subaru I was driving. The rest of the day was spent at the lookout
picking up or208, y216, y213, w255, and b167 all towards the Sierra
Madre. I had one birds to the northwest, or204, out towards Fort
Hunter Liggett. I continued to pick up this bird until Thursday when
the bird decided to take the trip south, according to the signal
strength and direction it was probably following the La Panzas.
Could you guess the birds ended up, of all places, towards the Sierra
Madre were I also picked up y213 earlier in the day.

Mike

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Hi Notes

Notes for 8/4/03: Arrived at lookout at 0830 and immediately picked
up signal from OR204. This Condor must have been roosting not too far
from the lookout, perhaps near Huff’s Hole, as the signal was strong,
coming from the southwest. I received signals on and off from the
bird as it flew along the coast, heading in the direction of
Atascadero, until the signal was lost by 1430 in the afternoon. I
also picked up a very brief signal from Y216 south of the lookout,
but lost the signal within 5 minutes. This is a Hopper Mt. bird and I
am assuming it just took a quick trip in our direction and then flew
back home.
Notes from 8/11/03: No signals early in the morning, but picked
signals from two Hopper Mt. birds (W262 & Y213) in the early
afternoon. The signals were weak and lasted only about an hour, so
I’m guessing they flew toward the lookout for a bit and then headed
back home to Hopper Mt. The third bird that I heard from was W222, a
Ventana bird. This bird may have been with the Hopper Mt. birds, as
the signals were from the same general direction (South of the
lookout) and lasted only about an hour.
The weather has been pleasant with a nice breeze most of the day.
Temperatures range from the mid 60s in the morning to the mid 80s in
the afternoon. And as Mike Tyner reported, the Hummingbirds are
FLOCKING to the feeders! Have you ever seen two Hummers share a port
in a feeder? There were 9 birds on one feeder with some sharing
holes. VERY un-Hummingbird-like behavior!
Once again I observed a fire…this one was near Hwy 166 I think.
Lots of fire-suppressent bombers flying by the lookout most of the
day (one dipped it’s wings in a ‘hello’ as it flew by the lookout).
Bye for now,
Kathleen

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