I too am old enough to have seen them in the wild before all were caught,
and I would be very upset if I have to remove them from my short life list.
I spent 2 hours with Topa Topa, the L.A. Zoo's resident Calif. Condor before
the remaining wild ones were captured...and Topa Topa was removed from
public view. He spent most of that time playing, throwing a stick into the
air with his bill then pouncing on it. I took two rolls of 36 exposure
slides, then sent them to my parents/Black Hills Audubon. Only 4 slides
remain, but I treasure them.
Dianna Moore
Ocean Shores, Wa.
dlmoor2 at coastaccess.com

----- Original Message -----
From: Robert Norton <norton36 at olypen.com>
To: send TWEETERS <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Cc: Rachel Lawson <rachellawson at softhome.net>
Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2001 10:57 PM
Subject: Condor listability


Tweets,
In Rachel Lawson's recent post about listability of Crested Mynas she
states that California Condors can be counted. But can they? All were taken
into captivity and then reintroduced. It is far from clear that they are
safely reintroduced.
I would think that they cannot be listed until they have been breeding
on their own for whatever number of years is the criterion without adding
more captive raised birds. I suspect that California proud purists of the
NIB type will never be able to count them in the future -- if they are
consistent.
Oh well, I am old enough to have seen truly wild ones -- but maybe I
should take them off since they went extinct in the wild.
Any thoughts?
Bob Norton
Joyce (near Port Angeles), WA
norton36 at olypen.com