CONDORS AND CLIFFS

We are now in Kanab, UT. Traveled a whole 75 miles on Sunday to get here. So much to see, so little time. Jim is going to be so glad when he gets to go fishing and not sight seeing.

A couple of things before I start in on the travel log. About a month ago I took the comment moderator off my blog. After reading Rick’s post I decided to take the plunge. I had received several very strange comments earlier and that’s when I added the moderator. I am so happy to say that the blogger spam blogger works really well. No strange comments.

I also want to thank Rick for his Tips and Techniques. I struggle with a lot of issues on the computer and this book has saved me so much time and frustration.

Okay – now back to sight seeing.

Kanab is close to several places we want to see. This morning we headed for the Vermillion Cliffs and the California Condors.

 

We were a long way from the birds who are at the top of the cliffs. Our camera isn’t strong enough to really get the birds in focus. But there are two of them sitting on top of the release house. I cropped it so hopefully you can tell those two black blobs are birds.

 

 

 

This is the picture I cropped. The birds are on the right hand side. 

The Condors are an endangered species and only 22 condors were known to remain in 1982. Today the world population exceeds 200, and about one-quarter live in Arizona. Since December of 1996, program personnel have released condors every year. Each condor is fitted with radio transmitters and is monitored daily by field biologists.

One of the field biologists had a wonderful binocular, telescope thingie that he let us look through. Wow, it looked like you could reach out and touch the birds.

Condors are huge. They have a wing span of 9 1/2 to 10 feet and weigh 25 lbs. They have a sign comparing their wing span to that of a red tailed hawk and a golden eagle.

The birds refused to fly for us today. We ate our lunch out here and kept hoping. But no luck.

Here is are a couple of pictures of condors. One of the main causes of their disappearance is lead poisoning. Hunters use lead bullets and often leave carcasses out in the wild with the lead still in them. The condors eat them and then die from the lead. In California and Arizona where they are releasing the condors back into the wild, lead bullets have been outlawed.

 

Every condor has a tracking device on them. They locate the nests and tag each of the babies. They can go for about a week between feedings because they can store about 10 pounds of food in their craw.

What a fabulous day we had learning about these fascinating birds amid this gorgeous National Monument.