Free merchant vessels on ordering Over $ 100 *
client Service|Privacy Policy
Enter your email to sign up for our newsletter and save 25% on your next order
Toward the end of his Big Year , birderArjan Dwarshuisstopped at Pinnacles National Park in California to hopefully sneak a peep at one of the most problematical and intriguing birds in existence : the California Condor .
This large and endangered bird is not only a marvel to look at , it isone of the largest flying snort in the world . When it sailplane , the wings spread more than nine feet from tip to tip . And has a rich and turbulent history that has helped it keep to live on in California today .
The pursual is an excerpt fromThe ( Big ) yr That Flew Byby Arjan Dwarshuis . It has been adjust for the web .
Photo Credit: Gavin Emmons/National Park Service
Banner Photo Credit : Barbara Ash | Shutter Stock
In Search of the California Condor
I drive through a typical dry California hilly landscape painting to Pinnacles National Park . This is the home ground of the heavy and most endangered fowl in North America , the California Condor . I’m flying to Japan tomorrow cockcrow , so this iconic magpie might just be the last novel mintage I see in the New World .
In the context of my fundraiser for the Preventing Extinctions Program it would be an appropriate species , becauseno other North American bird has had such a turbulent chronicle of preservation as this one .
Photo Credit : Gavin Emmons / National Park Service
The California Condor is a giant black bird with a fierce - looking , bald , wan pinkish foreland and counterpoint white underwing coverts . It has a wingspan of almost 10 feet and can count up to 22 pounds . The Andean Condor , which I saw originally this year in Argentina , can grow even self-aggrandizing and weigh up to 33 hammering .
Historically , the California Condor ’s geographic statistical distribution extended along almost the total west coast of North America , from the north of Baja California in Mexico to the south of British Columbia in Canada . But by the late 1800s , this area had dwindled . Today , only about 600 of these bird are leave . This decline had everything to do with the increment in human population . The condors were shot for their beautiful plume , their eggs were gather , they fell fair game to nitrile sand trap for coyotes , and they regularly crashed into electrical energy power pylon and other human social organization . But the huge majority died from lead story poisoning .
The California Condor: An Endangered Scavenger
condor are typical scavengers . They feed almost exclusively on the carcasses of large mammalian . That is why they have a bald-headed nous . When they go away , head word and all , into the abdominal cavum of a dead animal , less rotting shape and blood gets stuck in their plumage . They track down a meal with their exceptional eyesight , while they soar over the landscape painting at peak of up to 2.5 miles . Those carcasses used to come from animals that had died of natural causes , but that change when Western settlers arrived in the eighteenth century .
One of the settlers ’ best-loved pastime was hunting , mainly with lead bullets . When a shot fauna managed to get away and finally die , the fastball was still stuck in its organic structure . When condors that feasted on the cadaver ingested that bullet , the lead was absorbed through their digestive tracts and they died horrific death .
The condor population plummeted . By the thirties , condors no longer exist outside the state of California . In 1953 the state declare the California Condor an officially protected species , and fourteen eld afterwards it was assigned endangered species condition by the US Fish and Wildlife Service . In the late 1980s , a numeral of areas were designated as special condor qualification . But it was all to no avail , as hunting with lead bullets still ask berth on a large scurf .
In 1985 there were only nine birds get out in the natural state . At that point , it was decided to undertake the utmost and controversial measure to capture them all in an attempt to save the species and protect the factor pool . The last wild condor , the illustrious male person AC9 , was enchant in April 1987.From then on , the specie was officially extinct in the state of nature . There were only twenty - two California Condors in the world , and they all experience in captivity .
A Call to Action: Rebuilding the Condor Population
In the early eighties , a large - scale breeding programme was jell up by the US Fish and Wildlife Service , with the participation of several well - know zoos , such as the San Diego Wild Animal Park and the Los Angeles Zoo . This was a immense challenge , because condor become sexually ripe only after six days and raise at most one young every two years . But by remove the egg shortly after put down , the birds were encourage to lay another one .
Those precious eggs were incubated unnaturally , and the young were raised by hand , making use of a pencil eraser , lifelike condor - pass glove for prevent the young birds from getting used to human . The nurture programme was a achiever , and the universe grew rapidly . In 1992 the first captive - reared condor were released into the natural state . It was n’t until 2002 that a condor was born in the wild again , the first meter in eighteen age .
Now several hundred of these majestic birds are living in the wilderness . In spite of the fact that track down with lead bullets is banned in California , it still takes topographic point on a large scale . At this item , without the help of the breeding program , the species would still become extinct . This is perhaps the ultimate paradox : The condor can not survive with humans , but it ca n’t live without them now , either .
Face-to-Beak With the California Condor
Pinnacles National Park is characterise by impressive formations of orange rock’n’roll that are situated in the middle of the park . The condor build their nests on inaccessible ledge along the steep sway boldness . After the reintroduction of the condor back into the natural state , this nesting happen for the first time in 2016 . The metal money has been breed here regularly ever since .
Photo Credit : Barbara Ash | Shutter Stock
The birds are outfit with brightly color plastic wing tags as well as GPS trackers , which allows researcher to make out them individually from a great length and to closely supervise their whereabouts online . It is also useful to trace utter bird and determine the drive of death . With every condor that can be proven to have died of jumper cable poisoning , the argument against hunt down with lead hummer gains exercising weight .
My spouse and I are in a parking pot at the bottom of the tilt formations . We watch the sky tight , and my scope is at the ready . We ’ve already figure a routine of Turkey Vultures , the much smaller cousin of the condor , but so far we have n’t find any shadow of the king of California ’s skies .
Suddenly a bird of prey appears on the horizon . He keeps his wings stiffly disseminate as he glides effortlessly on the thermals along the rock establishment . It ’s only when a Turkey Vulture flies next to him that his enormous sizing fend out : It ’s as if a buzzard is flying next to a Bald Eagle . It is a California Condor , and its 10 - foot wingspan put a long dim shadower on the rock wall . I get him in the scope flat away . As I look up to the bird , it is joined by another condor .
Each has brightly colored fender rag and transmitters on its upper wings . It could very well be that they are a twosome and that they are build a nest , because condors rest their eggs in early spring . We can follow them for minutes , until they disappear behind the stone formation . Then we get in the car and drive to Los Angeles . Tomorrow morning I will fly to Vietnam via Tokyo and Taiwan to set out the coda of my Big Year .
Recommended Reads
A Year of Global Birdwatching : The Thrill Of the Chase
Peregrine falcon : Then and Now
The (Big) Year that Flew By
Twelve Months , Six Continents , and the Ultimate Birding Record
$ 22.95
Recent Articles
Farming Against Nature
When you ’re walk around the grocery store expect at the vegetable , it ’s in all probability hard to ideate that a century ago there was twice the amount of options .
Foraging for Mushrooms: Gourmet Root Systems
For people who enjoy forage for food in the wild , there are plenty of mushroom-shaped cloud to choose from — “ ten thousand mushroom-shaped cloud specie to be considered on the North American continent alone ” . But foraging for mushrooms should never be retrieve of as a game of opportunity . You need to know all the clues when it comes to identify …
Strong, Spicy, and Pleasant: Wild Green Kimchi
Need a new twist on kimchi ? Look no further than this uncivilized green kimchi ! Experiment with what you have , anything from the mustard greens family will turn exceedingly well .
How to Create the Perfect Bee Hive: A Home Worth Buzzing About
For all the beekeepers and future beekeepers out there , this one is for you ! Your journey to successful apiculture lead off with construct a suitable haven for honeybees , otherwise known as the bee hive . The follow is an excerpt from Raising Resilient Bees by Eric and Joy McEwen . It has been adapt for the web . Bees …
Silvopasture: What in the world is it?
Have you heard of silvopasture ? This organisation of managing grazing animals is an ancient practice that integrate trees and grass into a individual organization for raising farm animal . These systems are contend for both woodland products and forage , provide short - and tenacious - term income sources in a mutually beneficial way for level-headed creature , better soil , less pest ascendancy and mowing , and …
© 2025 Rizzoli International Publications Inc. All Rights Reserved .
Rizzoli International Publications300 Park Avenue South , 4th FloorNew York , NY 10010United state
There are items in your basket which are ready to ship.
You ’ll need to checkout before adding this pre - order item to your basket .
