Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley.
| www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
California Condor
Ebony McMillan
16 may 1964
Sixth or seventh Primary of the left wing that appeared to be
filling in. The spot-in-the-wing Condor had a secondary
feather missing from the right-wing-about two-thirds of the
way out from the body. Both these Condor circled to the east
and then south of where I was, gaining considerable
altitude before flying out to the south, and out of my
sight, at 11:20 A.m., heading in a south by southeasterly direction.
I feel quite certain that these two Condor were the same adult and
immature birds as I saw on May 10-1964 feeding on the sheep
offal that I had placed out north of the foot of Kerr Grade. The
only changes that seemed to have occurred since that time,
in these birds was a loss of a secondary feather in the right
wing of the immature bird and a gradual filling in of the
gap in sixth or seventh primary feathers of the left wing of
the adult bird.
Arriving back at my pickup at 11:32 A.m., I glanced up to
see both spot-in-wing and adult condor with 5th primary
missing from right wing and gap in left wing in area of 7th or 8th
primary feathers coming from southeast moderately high. Both birds
circled over the mouth of this canyon where I had parked my
pickup. The adult seemed to stay rather high while the spot-in-
wing bird would circle much lower in elevation. It seemed
also that the immature bird more or less wandered about
aimlessly while the adult followed wherever it went, the adult usually
remaining at a higher elevation as it followed the young and
circled.
At 11:37 A.m., these two Condor moved out eastward—