-
Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.
Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Could someone confirm? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter OwlTalon
- Start date
KnockerNorton
Well-known member
TCondorOwl92 said:
Think about what? What's the question?
I have seen a discussion somewhere that the condor has been releases around Grand Canyon, and there even should be a place where they are pretty much guaranteed for viewing. I think there was a report that a single egg in that area had hatched, but so far it is not possible to claim any flying bird as spontaneous, so you did not get a "tick" if that is important for you.
Just my personal views and the info might have been bungled up, as I did not try to search for any sources.
Niels
Just my personal views and the info might have been bungled up, as I did not try to search for any sources.
Niels
OwlTalon
Always Watching
It was really cool, amazing bird, but I really didn't realize what it was right off. I'm sure I would've appreciated it even more if I'd known what it was right then, instead of finding out later that day. I am glad that someone I was with got a better look at it, and was sure it was a condor.
scary-canary
Canaries forever... and i'm not always scary, some
Are you sure it wasn't justa turkey vulture YOU saw and your friend saw the condor... they're pretty hard not to recognise on good views, especially if you're the world's biggest condor fan (or whatever)
OwlTalon
Always Watching
"Are you sure it wasn't justa turkey vulture YOU saw and your friend saw the condor... they're pretty hard not to recognise on good views, especially if you're the world's biggest condor fan (or whatever)"
I understand where your coming from, and I considered that for a bit, but there were no other soaring birds to be seen from my angle or my friends. As for the bit about "on good views", it wasn't a good view, it was very quick. Finally, it was kinda this sighting and the zion birds that made me the "world's biggest condor fan (or whatever)". i hadn't given them much thought before that.
I understand where your coming from, and I considered that for a bit, but there were no other soaring birds to be seen from my angle or my friends. As for the bit about "on good views", it wasn't a good view, it was very quick. Finally, it was kinda this sighting and the zion birds that made me the "world's biggest condor fan (or whatever)". i hadn't given them much thought before that.
lockbreeze926
Well-known member
Here's a website detailing the presence of condors in the GC area. http://www.gcnpf.org/projects/condor.html
Seems like the program started as long ago as 1996 -
www.nps.gov/applications/nature/documents/Condor Re-introduction Program.doc
Sounds quite likely that you could have seen one. And don't let anybody tell you that you can't count it.
Seems like the program started as long ago as 1996 -
www.nps.gov/applications/nature/documents/Condor Re-introduction Program.doc
Sounds quite likely that you could have seen one. And don't let anybody tell you that you can't count it.
scary-canary said:
Ever seen something soaring with a 5,000 foot deep, 20 miles across hole as the backdrop? When I saw the condors at the GC, I remember thinking that they aren't very large at all until I remembered what I had as a reference.
scary-canary said:
And why are you giving someone grief for asking about the condors. Geez.
OwlTalon
Always Watching
Another detail I noticed when the bird flew over me was the color. Every time a turkey vulture flies directly over me, as this bird did, I see the silver flight feathers and red head very clearly. It is harder to spot on an angle, but no matter the conditions or height, when a TV flies over, I see those marks. This bird looked all dark in my view. Juvenile Condors have dark heads and dark wing linings. My friend says the bird he saw was all dark, and so was the bird I saw. It wasn't an eagle or a vulture he said, and it was bigger than the turkey vultures flying over the canyon. Neither of us saw any other birds in the sky above me, and we were both looking from different angles. The bird was definitely a condor, and I saw the bird. Case Closed. (The birds in Zion were harder to see, and I'm not 100 percent sure about those ones, but I am positive abou the Grand Canyon sighting) Thank you everyone.
Katy Penland
Well-known member
Having just returned from 2 weeks in far northern Arizona and southern Utah, I don't doubt you saw condors in the Grand Canyon. We had a total of 11 condors in GC, starting with one soaring downstream at Marble Canyon which joined 9 more (!!!) at Navajo Bridge (also in Marble Canyon but specifically at the turnoff to Lee's Ferry), all of which were on the riverbank at the base of one of the bridge pilings, sunning themselves and "playing" with a piece of cardboard (Tag #s: 6, 70, 50, 52, A3, 42, 74, 97, 26 and one that was tagless). And the next day when I was at the South Rim of the GC, one was soaring just below Verkamp's but I couldn't get a good enough angle to get the tag #.
I didn't see any condors at Zion during the day I was there. Where exactly in the canyon was yours sighted?
FWIW, a Peregrine Fund person was at Navajo Bridge with a radio antenna tracking the birds, and he told me that #42 is a wild-hatched and -fledged bird in its 2nd year, so depending on whether you saw that particular bird and whether you're into ticking "only wild birds," it would seem that this one might be eligible for "listing." I personally don't list, but I was totally blown away by my first sighting of this huge bird -- the first one so close to the cliff edge I couldn't get both wingtips in my 10x42 bins! Yowza!
I don't know the exact point of release (and I assume there are several), but the Vermillion Cliffs is just "around the corner" from Marble Canyon and is one of the prime release points for the condors.
I didn't see any condors at Zion during the day I was there. Where exactly in the canyon was yours sighted?
FWIW, a Peregrine Fund person was at Navajo Bridge with a radio antenna tracking the birds, and he told me that #42 is a wild-hatched and -fledged bird in its 2nd year, so depending on whether you saw that particular bird and whether you're into ticking "only wild birds," it would seem that this one might be eligible for "listing." I personally don't list, but I was totally blown away by my first sighting of this huge bird -- the first one so close to the cliff edge I couldn't get both wingtips in my 10x42 bins! Yowza!
I don't know the exact point of release (and I assume there are several), but the Vermillion Cliffs is just "around the corner" from Marble Canyon and is one of the prime release points for the condors.
KnockerNorton
Well-known member
TCondorOwl92 said:
It's very well known that there's condors in the canyon, so what's the mystery? If you saw one you saw one. Not exactly controversial.
Last edited:
My motto is if it's on the American Ornithologists Union list, I can tick it (and the Cali Condor is). If you're confident in your sighting, TCondor, go ahead and do what you will - it's your list, not anyone else's. However, don't turn the bird into something it's not just to say you've seen it.
OwlTalon
Always Watching
Thank you all of you. It is on my list. As for where the two Zion birds were sighted, were standing at the bus stop by the visitor's center, and they were off in the mountains, so I can't give specifics. They really only could have been a pair of condors, or maybe a pair of golden eagles, but not TVs. They didn't flap in 20 minutes of viewing, and were just so big. Both sightings are on my list to stay, even though I have slightly more confidence in the bird at GC because someone got a good look at it. Thanks everyone for your advice, I appreciate it.
