Hi Tweeters,

My wife and I went to the Bay Area in California last week. I drove to
Big Sur south of Monterey while she went north with her sisters.

South of Big Sur I found some very accommodating California Condors. I
was there two afternoons. The first time I saw 12-14 condors and the
second afternoon I saw 6-8. What magnificent birds!

The condors at Big Sur spend some of their time at Pinnacles National
Monument, 60 or so miles
northeast of Big Sur. There are 64 condors in that group. There is another
population just north of Los Angeles and one north of the Grand Canyon
NP. There are now over 200 California Condors in the wild.

On June 17 I was standing on a cliff with a small group of people
watching the condors. Four or five of them were flying back and forth
past the cliff, some of them within 20 feet of us! It was amazing!

After leaving the condors I wandered around searching for Lawrence's
Goldfinch and Yellow-billed Magpies. After long searches I found both
species but it was hard work. But what are vacations for?

Photos from the trip are in the new photos folder on my website:

http://www.granstrand.net/gallery/newphotos

Denny Granstrand

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Denny Granstrand
Yakima, WA
dgranstrand AT gmail.com
Denny Granstrand's bird photos can be seen at:
www.granstrand.net/gallery/