Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self. - Cyril Connolly
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Day of the Condors
OK, Friday and Saturday were absolutely amazing in every way possible. The Grand Canyon did not dissapoint. It is really hard to be agnostic when you're standing on the edge of something so colossal and magnificent. On the other hand, looking directly back on MILLIONS of years of geology, you kind of just want to push all the Intelligient Design cooks over the edge and say, "SEE"????
Anyway, the coolest thing happened almost immediately after I arrived. I started to hike out to Hermit's Rest, about 9 miles going west along the South Rim of the Canyon. Just after I left most of the tourists and had the trail to myself, I came to a point where I suddenly saw this massively huge shadow cross directly beneath me. I looked over the edge, and there were THREE California Condors perched on a ledge about 100 yards away!!! This is the largest terrestrial bird in the US. They are simply magnificent to see in flight over the canyon. I used the max. setting on my telephoto lens to get this shot, but enjoyed a really close up view with my binoculars. If you click on the photo, you'll be able to clearly see the one bird with the number "10" on her wing. What you can't see is the yellow GPS transmitter under her wing, which was visible in flight.
When I finally reached Hermit's Rest, I showed the Park Ranger my photos. He got all excited and got out a small notebook which has all the sighting information for the birds in the Park. This is when I learned that what I had seen was so special. There are only about 250+ California Condors in the WORLD - period. Of those, there are less than 160 in the wild and of those, less than 60 in all of Grand Canyon National Park. I got to see 3!! It was like seeing a Giant Panda in the wild. It's that rare. They were re-released beginning in 1992 after the last 10 known birds were taken into protective custody back in the eighties to avoid extinction. The bird I had identified, Number 10, was hand raised by a puppet and released in 1999. She was wearing a yellow GPS transmitter. Her partner is currently recovering at the Phoenix Zoo from lead poisoning. Condors eat carion, and during hunting season, they often ingest lead shot from dead animals.
Are you sure that the "10" wasn't some kind of gang tattoo?