Tuesday, October 11, 2011

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.

IMG_3383 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 wayDSCN1136 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. DSCN1136

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.

IMG_3386 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.

IMG_3388

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

california-condor_486_600x450 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.

 

Condor119

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.

IMG_3381 What a fabulous day we had learning about these fascinating birds amid this gorgeous National Monument.

16 comments:

  1. Those condors are as ugly as the buzzards that roost in the cliffs out at the Lake, those buzzards are big birds too and can tear apart a deer carcasse. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna..

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  2. Enjoying your blog and the pics. We visited the Vermillion Cliffs last summer, no condors sighted. We are heading back to florida right now to figure out a way to go full timing, so I like reading all the places you lucky people get to wander to. Judith

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  3. Hi Sandi,
    I always laugh @ fellow bloggers who verify and moderate. What are they afraid of? I read my comments often enough to keep off anything that I think is bad. So far, I haven't even gotten spam. I laugh at the verification words, too. The one I have to use here is 'fackero'. Too funny! Thank you for your support, I really appreciate you.

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  6. I hope this one finally get's thru - having a few probs getting your blog to keep my post.

    Wow - those are some HUGE winged buddies you have there :-) I really enjoy reading about your daily exploits - keep up with the great posts. Jim, now listen up - you grab that fishing rod and go catch some of those outstanding Rainbows there in UT! Lightly breaded in corn meal and drop them in hot skillet - then a couple pieces of lemon butter dropped on - yummers! A man needs at least 2 good days of fishing per week or he will start liking chick-flick movies every night :-) Later - - hitting the road FT in 2 months - from Edmonds, WA T

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  7. Interesting post. Have to agree with Sam though - those birds won't win any beauty contests! Isn't it wonderful though that every creature has its place regardless of how it looks.

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  8. great condor shots today!!!..thanks for sharing your day once again...I know soon it will be all about fishing!!

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  9. Wished we had known about the Vermillion Cliff Condors when we were in Kanab. Stayed at the Crazy Horse RV Park while there. We also didn't know the movie set (Dodge City) of Gunsmoke is located just east of Kanab as well. The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is accessible from Kanab and is a nice scenic drive. We especially liked the North Rim because of it's lack of tourists everywhere.

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  10. I only find that I get the odd spam email now that I've changed the way commenting is set up. It only happens once in a while, so it's no big deal. The "comment" never shows up on the blog though, so I guess that must be spam blocker doing it's job.
    Condors may not win any beauty contests, but they are sure awesome.

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  11. Ugly bird but that's just my opinion. Reminds me to the osprey at Monck!

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  12. How nice that you got to see some of these birds in the wild. Condors and vultures are the garbage men (sanitation workers) of the animal world. :)

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  13. We haven't had much problem with not having the moderation. The odd time we get a wierd comment and when we do Kevin just deletes it, but they are few and far between. I have to admit we don't like the word verification though. If you have a slow internet connection, it can be a problem. Also if we use our internet stick which has a limited bandwidth so we turn off the images to save on our bandwidth and the word verification wouldn't show up so we don't bother to leave a comment.

    Love the info on the condors. They are pretty amazing birds.

    Kevin and Ruth
    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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  14. Fabulous that you got to see these magnificent scavengers!!! Our bird son would have loved that!!!

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Thanks for visiting today. I look forward to reading your comments. Have a beautiful day.