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Grand Canyon National Park: California Condor 87_3506
Image by Grand Canyon NPS
Condor #87 gets wet in Pipe Creek along the Tonto Trail in Grand Canyon National Park.
Regarded as one of the rarest birds in the world, the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) is the largest land bird in North America with a wingspan up to 9 1/2 feet and weighing up to 23 pounds. Adults are primarily black except for triangle-shaped patches of bright white underneath their wings. These patches are visible when condors are flying overhead and offer a key identification characteristic. Males and females are identical in size and plumage. The bare heads of condors are grayish-black as juveniles and turn a dull orange-pink as adults.
Condors are members of the New World vulture family and are opportunistic scavengers, feeding exclusively on dead animals such as deer, cattle, rabbits, and large rodents.
There are currently over 70 condors flying free in northern Arizona and southern Utah, including several that were raised in wild nest caves within or near to the Grand Canyon.
The rest come from the captive breeding program. Even the wild-raised birds are mostly now wearing numbered tags and transmitters. The numbers allow you to learn more specifics about any bird you get a close look at.
So look out for these magnificent birds soaring on their 9-foot (nearly 3-meter) wingspan over Grand Canyon National Park. During the warmer months they are seen regularly from the South Rim and frequently also from the North Rim. On the South Rim, try scanning the cliffs and Douglas-fir trees below the Bright Angel Lodge late in the afternoon. Most nights from late April through July and to some degree from March through October, some condors select overnight roosts in that area.
NPS Photo by Michael Quinn
Wisdom returns to feed her chick
Image by USFWS Pacific
Fish and Wildlife Service announced on 3/21 that Wisdom has returned.
In the face of tremendous losses of Laysan and black-footed albatross at the Refuge - including an estimated 110,000 chicks and 2,000 adults - to the tsunami that overwashed portions of the Refuge, biologists are thrilled to discover that Wisdom survived, said Barry Stieglitz, Project Leader for the Hawaiian and Pacific Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
"Although wildlife biologists generally manage at the level of populations," Stieglitz said, "we, too, become entwined in the fates of individual animals. Wisdom is one such special creature. She has also provided us valuable information about the longevity of these beautiful birds - in her case over 60 years - and reinforces the importance of breeding adults in the population. It's also very humbling to know this 8-pound bird has been producing chicks longer than I have been alive."
The Refuge's other "celebrity" albatross' fate remains uncertain. The parents of the short-tailed albatross chick hatched on Midway's Eastern Island in January have yet to be seen. The chick - the first of its species hatched at Midway - was washed approximately 100 feet from its nest by the tsunami, but was later safely returned by Refuge biologists. Since the chick is incapable of fending for itself, the Service will carefully consider whether hand-rearing this bird is appropriate if it is determined that it is not being fed by its parents. It is believed these parents are at sea, gathering food for their chick like Wisdom was, and will be seen again. For more information on the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, please see: www.fws.gov/midway/
For more information on the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, please see: www.papahanaumokuakea.gov/
Tsunami images from Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Laysan Island are available at: www.flickr.com/photos/usfwspacific/collections/7215762628...
Photo Credit: Pete Leary/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Grey Headed Vultures
Image by waywuwei
Tehualmixtle, Jalisco, Mexico
We were sitting on the terrace of our cabaña while our two pound Chihuahua was playing in the field a short distance away. I noticed a vulture cruising the cliff in front of our cabaña and then saw him circle around and cruise over us. He landed in this dead tree and was shortly joined by a buddy. We quickly realized that these vultures don't just prey on dead things, small animals are targets too. We quickly scooped up our dog and put her in the cabaña. We shooed off the predators but for the rest of the day they periodically cruised over us to see if their prospective meal was afoot.
