California Condor field notes, v1401
Page 445
Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley. | www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
Gymnogyps californianus May 7, 1948 Pacific Grove Monterey Co. at Santa Barbara, Colonel Ballister had a new novel at a near Cooper Ranch near Isleta, & a condor was seen (by Streets?) at a carcass, supposedly gorged so that it could not fly. Streets said he mounted a male weighing 20 lbs., wingspread 9'1", while at Santa Barbara, that the bird went to CP Rowe the author (?). Streets's mind is not good & he is very talkative, but in general he seems accurate in what he remembers. He said he had published an article once in the Oologist (?) stating that condors were rare (1896±?). I saw 400' of 16 mm. moving pictures that Ed Harrison had taken in April 1946 (13th+14th?) from a blind atop the cliffs at Big Cave. These showed an adult brooding and carrying a feather out of the pool in its bill. Immatures brooding and playing. Dark headed immatures playing with orange head ones. About 15 condors on Whitewash Ridge & top of the cliff. Walking; flight; takeoff; soaring from below and above. A very brief shot - about 1 second - of mating display. Feather deficiencies in several birds are shown. The back view of an adult sunning atop Root Tree. Most of the pictures are clear. Ed has some kodachrome stills to go with them. These were taken with lenses up to 20' in focal length.