california Condor Eben Mcmillan 3 april - 1963 There was a light frost this morning. I drove to the Bear Trap Rocks area, arriving at the La Panza Ranch at 8:00 A.M. Budd Zimmermann told me he thought he had seen three Condor last week flying down the river, but that they were so high he could not be sure. I parked the pickup in the pass to the east of Beartrap Canyon, on the Avenales Cattle Co. Property and hiked to a vantage point on the ridge above the Buzzard rocks by 9:15 A.M. The Buzzard Rocks are those rocks which protrude from the top of a ridge, across the canyon and about 1/2 mile northeast of the main Beartrap Outcrop. I picked out a good point of vantage and took up a watch. The weather was mild with little wind and only a few hazy clouds were about. At 10:40 A.M. a Condor came from the main mass of Beartrap Rocks. I picked it up as it was half way across, and lit on the south cap of Buzzard Rock, about 300 yards to my north and a bit lower than I was. It was soaring when I saw it first and it made it to the Rock without flapping its wings. As soon as it lit it opened its wings holding them thus for several minutes. Then it shook its feathers, in an awkward awkward awkward rolling motion first with one wing, then the other. After which it commenced preening. At times it would have one wing closed and be preening while the other wing was held stretched out. The feathers of this bird when it first landed on the rock, appeared damaged and Stickey. It was only after 30 minutes of preening and sunning that they [illegible]