Greetings all,

I spent Tues. through Thurs. of this week at the Lookout, filling in for
Mike Tyner who is on holiday. It was a hot, productive, and somewhat
sentimental three days, being the first extended visit to the Lookout
I’ve had since last summer. Condor activity was very low: no signals on
Tues. and brief, weak signals mid-day on Weds. and Thurs. from a few
birds to my distant east/southeast.

I spent a few hours painting interior window frames and sills on Weds.
I’m still taken back by the transformation of the Lookout since last
June and the list of “finishing touches” is rapidly dwindling. Kevin
Cooper came up on thursday to complete his masterpiece of a deck, adding
a stairs and siding to it. He also built some shelving in the storage
areas downstairs. John from Pacific Energy came up on Thurs. and spent
most of the afternoon re-wiring the solar console, installing a new
battery array, and answering all the questions Kevin and I could come up
with. Hooray! The power is back on!! I also had the good fortune of
meeting and orienting our newest volunteer Jack Morehead of Morro Bay.
Jack will be a great asset to the Project. He worked for the NPS for 40
yrs, has staffed a fire lookout (enduring lightening strikes!), just
completed the Lewis and Clark Trail, and also has a background in
archaeology(!). Jack took a short walk around Hi Mt. and collected what
he thinks to be pottery shards from several locations. Yet another
aspect of the Lookout Project that needs more investigating….Looking
forward to having Jack on board.

As always, the views were terrific and the serenity at the Lookout is
never disappointing. Tues. evening at dusk I was visited by a dozen or
so Western Mastiff Bats. These guys are HUGE and have an eerie, audible
feeding call. They coursed over the shrubs and around the tower until
well after dark. A very vocal gray fox kept me up late on weds night,
yelping, whining and barking in the scrub just east of the tower. What fun!

I want to add a sincere thanks to the Poly students and volunteers who
have been staffing the Lookout since I left. The Lookout Tower and
Visitor Center have been kept remarkably clean, organized, and stocked.
The surrounding area is neat, trash and star thistle free, and the
“scars” are healing nicely. The Visitor Center is filling up with
journal articles, specimines, maps, and loads of cool stuff. Its very
obvious that folks are seriously caring for the place and a feeling of
stewardship hangs around the mountain. Thanks to you all for the work
and dedication to the Project, it really shows. Above all, thanks for
being there to look out for the birds!

More photos of Kevin’s deck and some recent visitors at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/himountainlookout2

Until my next trip up,
-Paul Andreano

For Monday, July 14, 2003. I’ve come up short on Condor signals the
last couple times at the lookout…but there is no shortage of other
entertainging wildlife. Here’s a partial rundown: I watched a Turkey
Vulture, two Red-tailed Hawks and 1 Golden eagle circling to the
North of the lookout. Later in the afternoon, I saw the Golden Eagle
again down toward Huff’s Hole, and, with Lisa’s account of an Eagle
perched on one of the rock outcropings, I think that is probably what
I saw as well. My binoculars couldn’t quite confirm it. Four House
Finch nestlings are on the verge of fledging (located under the cat-
walk grid of the lookout). On the road to the lookout I startled at
least 3 coveys of Quail, one just below the lookout. Being the
obsessive list keeper that I am, I counted an additional 22 species
of birds from Pozo to the lookout (and a few that I wasn’t able to
identify). The weather was pleasant (high of 90 degrees), and I’m
happy to report that the bountiful flying bug collection has finally
abated somewhat! The butterflies are still plentiful, however. (Is
that discrimination regarding insects?!?)
Bye ’til next week…
Kathleen

Hello all!
This weekend was fabulous! The weather was spectacular the the view was
breathtaking. We had 2 Big Sur birds on Sat…. boy do they move fast!
They made it from Big Sur out near Lion’s Canyon in a few hours….
We had plenty of visitors and everyone was in great spirits. There were
quite a few families and a lucky couple who got a babysitter and snuck
out of the house for a romantic dinner for two up on the
mountain….(sorry you guys had to share your alone time with us, but
it was nice to meet you!). We had a very smart young boy who rode up on
his motorcycle with his dad and I was impressed by his knowledge about
the local animals as well as his enthusiam…look out for this
one…I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of him in ecology related fields.
A Golden eagle perched on Huff’s hole for a few hours on Sat. but no
sight of him on Sunday.
It was a big weekend for Turkey Vultures, Swifts and there was hundreds
of Mud- Daubers all over the Milk weeds.
Hope to see you guys soon…
lisa