Then we saw the Condor. We got to see the giant California Condor. They
live here at Pinnacles. They used to live here. Then they didn't. Now
they do again. Not everybody gets to see them. The condors hang out
wherever they want during the day. Sometimes they come back in the
afternoon to the pinnacles to spend the night. Sometimes they don't. Today
they did.
There are a lot of turkey vultures here. You watch them in the binoculars,
making sure there is not a condor in there anywhere. There are two hints I
have read about identifying California Condors that I really like: "If you
think you might have seen a giant condor, you haven't." That's a good one.
It suggests you'll know it as soon as you see it. The other: "From a
distance, can be mistaken for a small plane." Ooh.
Turkey vultures are big birds. Their wingspan is over five feet. They are
so good at soaring. They hardly ever flap. They look like magnificent
birds. Until the condor soars into view. The condor has a wingspan of
almost ten feet, and never flaps. The condor is deliberate in its
movements, it is perfectly steady and makes wide sweeping turns. By
contrast, the turkey vultures look downright unstable. The condor rises
from the horizon like the mother ship on Close Encounters.
Two new birds today.
Tonight we drive home for an hour to a forty degree temperature drop. A
hundred degrees here. Sixty degrees at the ocean's shore. Tomorrow, we
paddle the slough.
