Description

While scouting for condors in Northern Arizona I stopped at the Navajo Bridge in the Marble Canyon area. There were a few ravens calling in the distance but no condors. Then all of a sudden this giant black bird appeared from over the rocks following a raven. As the condor flew closer the first thing that I noticed was that it didn’t have any wing tags that most other condors have for identification purposes. The condor also had a black head (that looks a little fuzzy on close inspection). There was an official condor watcher on the bridge who was monitoring the condor’s movements. He told us that this is the young of the year for Marble Canyon and he/she hasn’t flown too far from the canyon walls up to the release site by Vermilion Cliffs for a check up. Seeing an adult or juvenile condor is rare, but seeing the young of the year was totally unexpected! Here’s hoping the condor has a healthy life ahead!

Category

Week 13: The Unexpected

Species

• California Condor

Tags

• bird
• fledgling
• california condor
• condor
• rare
• endangered
• desert
• young
• marble canyon
• recovery