From south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Wed Sep 15 20:24:07 2004 Received: from www.plaidworks.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i8G3LdwW015946 for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 15 Sep 2004 20:21:39 -0700 (PDT) Received: from imo-m14.mx.aol.com (imo-m14.mx.aol.com [64.12.138.204]) by plaidworks.com (8.12.9/8.12.9) with ESMTP id i8G3Kx1c015907 for <[[email protected]]>; Wed, 15 Sep 2004 20:20:59 -0700 (PDT) Received: from [[email protected]] by imo-m14.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v37_r3.7.) id r.e1.1597f29 (3858); Wed, 15 Sep 2004 23:20:53 -0400 (EDT) From: [[email protected]] Message-ID: <[[email protected]]> Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 23:20:53 EDT To: [[email protected]], [[email protected]] MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: 9.0 for Windows sub 5000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5b1 Cc: Subject: [SBB] Follow-up re: 8/13/04 Condor report X-BeenThere: [[email protected]] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5b1 Precedence: list List-Id: South Bay Birding List-Unsubscribe: , List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Errors-To: south-bay-birds-bounces+south-bay-birds-archive=[[email protected]] Hi folks, This is NOT a new sighting - it's a followup to my 8/13/04 report of a California Condor over my home in southern San Mateo County, which is about 1 mile from Santa Clara County and about 4 miles from Santa Cruz County. I can provide GPS coordinates to those who are keeping records if needed, but obviously prefer not to post that to the list or have it in a public website. I have had so many inquiries about this from folks on the birding lists (Peninsula & South Bay) and beyond, that I thought it would be best to send a recap post so everyone receives the same information. After this, unless I'm asked explicitly to post to the list(s) about it again, continued offlist is welcome! So I hope no one is offended that I'm posting again about a previous sighting. I was also contacted by Jim Petterson of Pinnacles National Monument on 8/19/04. We reviewed the details I observed and he agreed that there is simply no other bird it could be, other than a California Condor. He indicated that it was probably one from the Ventana group, and that it would be a small detour, so to speak, for a condor travelling up the coastal area to divert over to this ridgetop location; especially since condors key on turkey vultures for both currents & carrion locating. A few comments: 1) I made a point on 8/13/04 to note my observations _before_ looking at any of my books or reference material 2) I realized later I sounded very tenative in my 8/13/04 posting to these two birding lists which may have lead some folks to doubt the sighting (for which I apologize.) This was due to a combination of excitement and not wanting to be "arrogant" about posting such a critical sighting. I do want to assure people, however, that I stand by the observation and feel very sure about it. As a life-long native species advocate I am _very_ cautious about such assertions and don't take it lightly :-) Thanks to David Suddjian and Les Chibana for their constructive input/suggestions. 3) Field markings I observed and reported were: - size obviously MUCH larger than the turkey vultures (and the condor was above the turkey vultures) - objects appearing to be tags on the under-wings in red, rusty or orange color (I'm very practiced at observing & noting tags on bears' ears so this was familiar "terrain" to me) - splayed primaries - solid whitish coloring on the leading edge of the wings (underneath) - as the bird flew south s/he did one "down-flex" of wings that is common with vultures - I keep a watch attached to my binoculars and know that I observed this bird circling with the turkey vultures for over 20 minutes (my earlier report of "30" minutes was a typo!) Questions I could not answer: - how high above my house: unknown - was the bird in Santa Clara County as well? - not sure. However, at the point that I looked up, the bird was coming from the direction of northeast. So it's possible s/he flew over Santa Clara County as well since it's about a mile to the county line, but I can't say for sure. The bird definitely flew from San Mateo County into Santa Cruz County. Hope this is useful to people, and again ... offlist is welcome any time. I also have a file in ".gif" format showing silhouettes in comparison to eagles and turkey vultures. If anyone wants a copy of that, please let me know offlist. Meanwhile, since I work from home I'm outside here a lot and will keep looking up :-) Thanks & regards, Georgia Stigall ph: 650-941-1068 [[email protected]]_ (mailto:[[email protected]]) 2400 feet elevation Southern San Mateo County _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. south-bay-birds mailing list ([[email protected]]) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://www.plaidworks.com/mailman/options/south-bay-birds/south-bay-birds-archive%40plaidworks.com This email sent to [[email protected]]