Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley.
| www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
California Condor Ebenezer McMillan 26 February 1964
Condor, as which action the condor flew into the air while the
Eagle chased it about fifty feet before returning to deer
Carcass and commencing to feed on this Carcass for the first time.
In jumping at the Condor while it and the Condor were on the
ground near the deer Carcass, the Eagle seemed to thrust its
talons towards the Condor instead of using its beak or
wings. The talons could have raked the tail of the Condor,
before it got out of the way, but with no momentum it is
doubtful that any damage could be done in this manner.
Eagle eating on deer Carcass with many ravens gathered
about it at 10:51 A.M. while the Condor hovered overhead a
few yards.
At 10:52 A.M. the Condor sailed downhill about 150 yards
to where the lower Jackrabbits had been left as bait. After
circling only a few feet above one of these Jackrabbit
Carcasses momentarily, the Condor dropped on the ground
near the rabbit Carcass. It stood for about 30 seconds staring
at the rabbit Carcass and now and then looking down at its
own feet as if in fear that some sort of trap were on
the ground nearby. It then walked a few steps around the
rabbit Carcass, crouching and twisting its head forward and
downward as if to get a better look at what might be
wrong with the rabbit. Once it flipped its wings a bit and
jumped back a bit as if something about the [illegible]
Carcass had moved. At 10:53 this Condor flew again
and continued to hover above the baits. The Golden Eagle
and at least 10 ravens were still feeding about the deer Carcass.