I finally saw some California condors!


The California condor is one of rarest birds in the world. All of the ~2 dozen remaining wild specimens were captured in the late 1980s for inclusion in a captive breeding program. Beginning in 1996, condors were reintroduced to the wild in three areas: above the Grand Canyon in Arizona and Utah, in southern California, and in Baja, Mexico. Prior to 1996, the last sighting of a condor in Arizona was in 1924, but as of April 2011, there were 74 free-flying condors in northern Arizona and southern Utah and 13 chicks had been born in the wild there.

Having camped north of the Grand Canyon for 20+ years, I hoped that some day I would be lucky enough to see a condor near the canyon rim or along the Vermillion Cliffs to the east. On July 18, 2011, it happened. As I sat on the rim of the canyon reading, two condors soared directly over me. They turned back and flew past me repeatedly. The picture to the right was taken during one of these passes. Then one of them landed on the rim about 20 feet from me!


photo ©2011 Gary Varner

Some condor factoids:
  • They are the largest birds in North America, with a wingspan up to 9.5 feet. They are up to 4 feet long and weigh up to 30 pounds.
  • They mate for life (with a low “divorce rate” observed in the wild).
  • Females normally lay just one egg every other year.
  • They do not build nests, they just lay the egg in a cave or under a rock overhang.
  • The parents share responsibilities for the chick across about 18 months.
  • All the condors have been tagged for identification by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The three individuals I saw were:
    • -0,
    • A6, and
    • 74.

On-line I learned that -0 hatched on May 22, 2004 near Hopi Point on the south rim of the Grand Canyon, about 35 miles from where I saw her. Her parents were 119 and 122. She fledged on Thanksgiving Day of that year, and she was tagged on October 25, 2005. Here are pictures of her as an immature (note the black head and mottled appearance of the white triangle under the wing, both indicating an immature condor).

I couldn’t find analogous information on A6 or 74.

Here is -0 on final approach to landing about 20 feet in front of me.
Time to flare for landing!
And here she is, calmly standing not more than 20 feet from me.
photos ©2011 Gary Varner
Note -0 to the left of the tiny piñon pine on the edge of the rim. In this picture she seems to be looking at me, but compare the next one.


(BTW, after my mother died in 2001, I placed about 1/4 cup of her ashes on the root tops of that tiny piñon pine.)
Here comes -0’s beau, A6!
-0: “Now where is that man going to land?”


(OK, I don’t really know that -0 is female and A6 is male. But as documented above, I know that -0 was 7 years old when I saw her, and thus newly sexually mature, so I like to think that she and A6 were teenage lovers who would soon produce another wild-born chick.)
After this fly-by, A6 came back flying even lower, flared (which I could hear), and landed a little below -0 on the canyon wall (where I couldn't see him).

When they arrived, -0 and A6 were riding an updraft from the canyon as a thunderstorm approached from the south, but as they were landing, the updraft from the canyon was stalling.


photos ©2011 Gary Varner
So after a few minutes, -0 flew away to another rock outcrop a hundred yards or so to the north, where A6 had moved and another condor, 74, had arrived unseen by me. That’s -0 with her wings outspread after she landed a ways downslope from the other two. She's working her way towards that flat, grey rock the other two are on.

For more than an hour, the three condors hung out there, mostly seeming to nod off to sleep. Then, as soon as there was again an updraft from the canyon, they took wing. Two of them soared up really, really high (invisible except in my binoculars), and then glided away towards the south rim, but the third got separated from them when a hawk or falcon dived on it repeatedly, forcing it to descend deep into the canyon. (That bird was presumably defending a nest somewhere along the rim. Of course, if it knew that condors only eat dead animals, then it shouldn’t have bothered harassing the condor.)


photo ©2011 Gary Varner
Finally, here is the original color photo that I morphed into B&W at the top of this page.


photo ©2011 Gary Varner