This morning I was leading a Camp KEEP hike with our 6th grade students
on the Valencia Peak trail in Montana De Oro State Park. At 700 ft.
elevation the girls in my hike group were admiring the coastal scenery
with blue skies, scattered cumulus clouds, and a cool breeze from the
north. Vultures, red-tailed hawks and northern harriers were of interest
to point out, but then at 10:30am I got more excited by telling the kids
to use their binoculars to look in the distance at a soaring golden
eagle, something we see on our hikes in MDO only once or twice each
school year. But no, a longer look through the binoculars convinced me
instead it was a soaring California Condor! My co-worker Lynne Haley
was further up the trail with the 6th grade boys in her hiking group, so
I gave a call on the radio to tell them to take a look. Amazingly, at
the same moment I called on the radio to give the alert she was
coincidentally having a discussion about condors and their large
wingspan, and as she talked some of the boys were just beginning to
notice there was a large bird soaring and circling up high. After
several minutes of viewing, the condor glided beyond Valencia Peak and
headed south out of view through the Irish Hills; however, more than an
hour later during lunchtime with the students at Spooner’s Campground a
condor appeared again flying near the coast. It headed inland soaring
high over the northern ridge above Islay Creek, accompanied by 6 ‘tiny’
turkey vultures. We watched until 12 noon. John Roser and I had distant
views of clean white underwing panels that suggest it was an subadult
or adult bird. The condor never flapped a wingbeat during our
observations.

It was one year ago in early October 2003 that a similar sighting
occurred when another Camp KEEP staff member was leading a hike to the
same location on the mountain in Montana De Oro. A condor swept by at
close range. That day the radio signal for that condor was picked up by
Kathleen Intorf and radio tracked from Hi Mountain Lookout- the condor
apparently roosted overnight somewhere in the Irish Hills before
departing from the area heading south. Unfortunately, a few days later
that condor disappeared and its death may have been related to the
raging fires and smoke in southern California.

The Irish Hills are a hop, skip and a glide away from the usual condor
flight paths over the Santa Lucia Mountains or the inner coast ranges.

Steve Schubert
Los Osos