Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley.
| www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
Gymnogyps californianus Porterville, Calif.
August 19, 1950. Visited Raewell Welch, game warden at
Porterville and asked him about the supposed condor nest on Tule
Indian Reservation. Welch had no recent news about it and rather
doubted that it was really a nest. I went to Tule Indian Reservation
and drove up the road about 20 miles beyond headquarters to
a logging camp at Redwood Canal at the head of Redwood Creek.
The upper part of this road was built last spring by a logging
company. I found Leo Claude Rauch, Jr., son of the owner of the
Rauch had climbed a pine tree "about 30 feet" from the
nest and looked in. He was sure he had seen a fuzzy gray
bird there. Rauch also said that in June he had seen 5 condors
at once in the Redwood Creek area. He showed me the tree with
nest. It was a Sequoia about 12' d.b.h. and 170+ feet tall,
living, with green foliage. About 80 feet up tree on S.E.
side was a hole about 4" in height (Rauch thought perhaps
6 ft.). A large branch had apparently broken off and fire
had burnt out a hole at the base of branch. I
saw a young condor in the hole while standing on the road.
Its head was grayish flesh-color indicating an age of about
18 weeks. Breast was dark gray fluffy down. Tree was
on N.W. side 100 feet from the logging road; its base about 20' above
level of road. Tree on moderately steep slope (N.W. slope). At
base of tree were a few condor feathers. The ground
was much beaten by caterpillar tracks and trees within
50 feet had been felled. The men said that blasting had
been done on the road near the tree. The disturbance must
have been considerable. Rauch had not seen more than