August 19 - A Grand Bird

I slept in a bit this morning at the Best Western Pony Soldier in Flagstaff, eating at the motel’s breakfast bar, which is pretty good.  It was a comfortable 55º F at dawn, which was refreshing, and the coolest thermometer I’d been under for weeks.  The Tucson forecast was for another “heat warning” today . . . and I’m glad to be out of those high temperatures.

I finally pulled myself together, left the motel, did some errands, and made my way toward the Grand Canyon, with the intent of finding some Juniper Titmice, which would be a “year bird” for my travels.

I got to the South Rim a little after noon, having entered using my Interagency Senior Pass - saving the $30 entrance fee.  The current cost of this pass is $80 for those of us gray-hairs who are 62 years of age and older.  If you’re going to visit some of the Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, or US Fish & Wildlife Service sites charging entrance fees, it is well worth purchasing one.  The Pass also waives most day use fees - unless you’re at one of those sites where the Feds allow a “concessionaire” to operate the public venue.

Worth Every Penny . . .

I checked out a few of the exhibits at the Visitors’ Center, then decided to take the “Trail of Time” along the rim from Yavapai Point to the Bright Angel trailhead.

This is a pretty-well done interpretive exhibit, put in back in 2010.  It’s a 2.83 mile-long geologic timeline, where every meter walked on the trail signifies a million years of the Canyon's geologic history.

It gives a person a real appreciation for the magnitude of geologic time.  Bronze markers mark the location in time, and every tenth marker is labeled in millions of years.

Along the trail, a series of rocks and exhibits explain the geological history of the Grand Canyon and its formations.

I enjoyed the displays, as I've been interested in Geology since my Dad was a 4-H Leader for a Geology Club back in the 1960s.

As I was returning from the Verkamp’s Visitors’ Center at the Canyon Village, I glanced at a Turkey Vulture soaring.  When I looked at it again, I saw that another bird was soaring with it.  Much bigger.  “Way Bigger.  It was a California Condor!

Back when I was a ‘young birder’, the entire population of the condors had plummeted to only 27 individual birds!

Drastic action necessitated that the agencies capture all the birds from the wild in 1987 and start a captive breeding program to save the species from extinction.  In 1992, the Fish & Wildlife Service and the Peregrine Fund were able to begin releasing birds back into the wild.  This last July, the 1,000th chick from this program was hatched in Utah, and the wild population numbers around 500 birds in California, Utah and Arizona.  A Success Story in the Making!

As I watched, another Condor joined it.  The first bird, identified by wing-tag 23, is the hero of the California Condor Restoration Project.  Number 23 is a male, hatched at the Los Angeles Zoo on May 20, 1995, and was released in May of 1997.  The project has worked for 30 years to reintroduce captive-bred condors into the wild.  Number 23, along with his mate, were the first released condors to successfully raise a chick on their own.  But in 2009, his mate succumbed to lead poisoning.

In 2012, male 123, wearing Tag No. 23, began courting female 297 (wearing Tag No. 97).  She was hatched and hand-reared at the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho in April of 2003, and released into the wild in February 2005.

Today they were soaring together.

These are amazing birds, and even if they’ve been tagged, banded, and captive-reared, a person can only imagine themselves standing at the edge of a canyon 10,000 years ago and watching condors soaring free and wild . . .

After I finished my walk, I made it back to the Visitors’ Center and bought myself a hat.

Then, I came past a Ranger-led presentation on the condors, which drew quite a crowd of us tourists.

The Ranger described the condors and showed photos of other birds you'd see in the Canyon.

"These big black birds are Ravens . . ."

He had a banner showing the wing-span of these birds, having kids come up for a comparison of sizes.

And, he passed around a moulted Condor wing feather, which is huge!

 

It was a pretty good little educational talk.  Leaving the talk, I was amused that the Park was irrigating a small patch of lawn, as there were no signs indicating that there were native plants or anything within the little rocked enclosure.

But, the moist lawn attracted a family of Western Bluebirds.

This one was recently-fledged, and still has its juvenal plumage.

As well as the usual begging mammals expected in a park.

Rock Squirrel - Spermophilus lateralis

Finally, it was getting late.  I wasn’t going to find any motel accommodations near the Park for a reasonable rate, so I drove 25 miles east of the Visitors’ Center to the Desert View Campground, set up my REI tent and sleeping bag, and settled in for a night’s sleep on a wonderful moonlit night in the desert.

Once again, having an Interagency Pass helped defray some costs, as holders are charged only half of the campground costs.  I must be part Scottish, 'cause I'm always looking for a good deal.

Grand Canyon South Rim eBird Checklist is Here  

Rave On!

Note:  I have been getting some polite grief from friends and other readers, wondering why I'm still doing a Blog when it's three months out-of-date.  The answer, of course, is that it is a memory jar for me; a way to remember and relive the high points of this, "my" year of birding, travel, and discovery.  The Blog is not monetized.  It is being done for my own pleasure.  And, hopefully for the enjoyment of those of you who are reading it.  Thanks to all who are still 'following' this journey.