December Recap
Happy New Years Birders!!:) In case you missed it you can find last month's newsletter here: december newsletter
drawing contest
Last month we held a drawing contest inspired by Amy Tan's Backyard Birding Chronicles.
I recieved a quarter of a dozen submissions and narrowed it down to a top 3.
Actually I technically recieved like 15 *submissions* but there were only a quarter of a dozen *submittors*,
though I thought it was best to not allow one submittor to win multiple prizes.
So without further ado I present the first place winner Janet with her drawing of a California Condor
Member Submissions
Thank you to everyone who sent me photos of the birds they saw!
First up Jette sent in a photo of a large-billed crow (Corvus macrorhynchos), also known as jungle crow, that he took from the observation deck of the Tokyo Tower during his Japan trip.
Ani sent in some photos of birds in the Poovar Backwaters in Kerala
he took on his India trip.
I don't know what species of birds these are this is the SF Bird club not the Kerala bird club.
Aarsh sent in some photos and videos of his ordeal with a Black Phoebe that got stuck inside his home in San Jose. Luckily the little guy was captured and then released back outside.
Erin sent in a shot from one of the battles between crows and European starlings she witnesses from her house in Pleasanton. I don't know how to upload a live photo so I just included one still shot.
I also took a week off and did a bunch of birding and a little herping.
I spent it wandering around the bay looking for specific species like western snowy plovers (Charadrius nivosus nivosus),
California condors (Gymnogyps californianus), and chestnut-backed chickadees (Poecile rufescens).
I also bought a camera specifically to aid my birding and I still don't know to use it or adjust focus or anything fancy,
but it's got a massive zoom and that's all i really care about so here are a few photos from that week.
Spotlight Bird: California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus)
During my week of birding PTO I mentioned above fellow bird club member Janet and I took a day trip to Pinnacles National Park to search for California Condors.
After hours of only spotting turkey vultures we lucked out during on our descent from the High Peaks and spotted a pair gliding slowly through the sky.
They glide very slowly in these long circles.
I only got a picture of one of them, number 726.
This was honestly one of my highlights of 2024 and was a spring board for learning more about condors and planning more
birding quests. I bought a book about condors, Beneath a Black and White Sky: A Year Among Condors at Pinnacles National Park by Joseph Belli,
which I've started reading.
During a Green Apple visit I also spotted the book Return of the Condor: The Race to Save Our Largest Bird from Extinction by John Moir which I might read next.
Fun California Condor Facts:
- It is the largest bird species in North America and wingspans reach nearly 10 feet long.
- The condors were very nearly completely wiped out, mostly by lead poisoning. In 1982 there were only 22 condors left in the wild and in 1987 they captured the last wild condor to bring it into captivity along with the others they captured to help with a captive breeding program. It's really a neat conservation story and I recommend reading more about it.
- Today there are something like ~500 condors alive with 275-350 in the wild and 150-215 in captivity. I've seen multiple varying figures from different sources so I'm not quite sure the more approximate counts.
- Most condors are tagged and you can actually look them up online and find their bios.
For example the one pictured above that we saw in Pinnacles has a green 26 tag meaning it is number 726
and this is that condor's bio.
Turns out she is a 10 yr old named Little Stinker and she has a mate but none of her eggs have hatched so she is not yet a mom.
Check out this cool graphic from the site too:
- They can live 50-60+ years. I think Topa Topa (marked number 1) is the oldest condor and he was born in 1966 making him 58. He was the first wild born condor brought into captivity way back in 1967 and he lives in the Los Angeles Zoo. Bonus fact he has fathered over 34 chicks!
- Their heads are black when they are young and around 4 years old they start to change and by 5 they get that weird pink and pink adjacent color
- They are vultures and feed on animal carcasses including those of whales, sea lions, and deer.
- They can do something called urohidrosis which means they pee/poop on their legs and when the liquid evaporates it cools them down. Here's a youtube video of a condor doing it and here's a tiktok of a captive turkey vulture doing it while a guy explains the process
- I'm learning a lot about condors and now I wish I waited to make them bird of the month until after I finished my book(s) on them because there are so many cool fun facts on these condors and I feel like there's so much more to learn.
- They're actually very ugly up close so they have a different charm than other birds.
They can puff up their neck feathers for warmth which looks cool, but in general they are still kind of ugly.
Check out this picture I grabbed from online:
January Birding Walk
This month we will do a birding walk. The walk will take place on Saturday January 25th at 8am at the Crissy Fields Marsh. Please let me know if you're interested and I'll send more details and reminders. I've birded around there once or twice and seen some cool shorebirds, waterfowl, and various songbirds so we should see something.
Closeout
That's all; happy birding and happy new year