Tim
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California Condors in Baja
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070403/ap_on_sc/condor_egg_4
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Mexitron
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That's great! My friend in college was one of the initial ornithologists working on that project at Cal Poly SLO in the early eighties--nice to see
its paid off. They really worked hard to save those Condors. On our trip to the SPM Mission three years ago we saw one flying around--magnificent
birds.
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Steve in Oro Valley
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Last I heard, from my daughter who is a ranger at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon ( a very remote location indeed) there were 38 condors in the
vicinity of the Grand Canyon and the Vermillion Cliffs..
Steve in Oro Valley
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David K
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I still have not received a satisfactory answer about the Sierra Club expedition of 1970 that spotted 50 condors in the San Pedro Martir, as to why
that was buried and the 1930's date for the final condor flying over the sierra was pushed up.
I will try and find the newspaper clipping...
In 1978, the ranger station on the observatory road had a condor I.D. poster inside.
I am only wondering if the Baja condors needed to be "dead" so the U.S. California condor program could get all the funding needed...???
[Edited on 4-4-2007 by David K]
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Mexitron
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DK--there wasn't any conspiracy that I know of and I was pretty close to the action back then. I never saw a Cal. Condor in the SPM until three years
ago, and I've been going there since 1978 too. That said, anything's possible!
Interestingly enough, for a long time amateur botanists thought that there were groves of Giant Sequoias in the SPM. It wasn't until a more recent
expedition by experts confirmed that there were no Redwoods--just Incense Cedar that look like them. So you never know--could have been Turkey
Buzzards, the Condor's slightly smaller cousin, that the Sierra Club saw.
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David K
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Yup... that's possible!
Why did the ranger have a condor ID poster in '78, then??? It must have been possible that some survived in Baja's "Sky Island"???
By the way, Graham Mackintosh's third book, 'Nearer My DOG to Thee' has an excellent write up on the condors... http://grahammackintosh.com
[Edited on 4-4-2007 by David K]
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Mexitron
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I'll give my friend a ring and see if he knows any more on the story...
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Mexitron
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Taco De Baja's dad might have still been in the Sierra Club at that time, when they were still quite active in Baja; maybe Taco can shed some light if
he reads this thread.
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David K
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Okay great Steve, I clipped that San Diego Union article back in 1970 because it was great news I thought... You would thing the Sierra Club condor
counting expedition would know what a condor looks like, right?
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