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Greetings All!
I recently returned from a month in the USA (California)
and Cuba. While I did not do any serious bird-watching, I do have two birds to
report - both vultures.
I visited Big Sur (south of San Francisco) with my son
for a weekend. There I had a wonderful view of a Californian Condor (Gymnogyps californianus). As we were
driving south from Deetjens, where we were staying (near Nepenthe - for those
who know the area), we saw a pair of golden eagles wheeling high above, then
they were joined by a Californian Condor -
so much larger than the eagles (wingspans of around 3m compared with a
little over 2m)! We had to go back to Deetjens for the forgotten binos, and on
return the eagles had disappeared, but the condor was still there and I got a
fantastic view of this magnificent, very rare bird. Apparently there are only
about 172 of them in the wild, and are being reintroduced to the Big Sur area by
the Ventana Wildlife Society (see their condor site at: http://www.mycondor.org/ ). Where we
saw this one is around the furthest south they have yet gone (they do not rate a
mention in the 'Local birds of San Luis Obispo County', which we were soon to
enter as we headed south).
When I was in Havana a couple of weeks later we could
not help noticing the large black birds circling high above the city. They were
Turkey Vultures (Aura tiñosa de Cuba). I took the lift to the top of
the 109m Jose Marti Memorial. The views over the city were great, but so were
the close-ups of the birds, perching on the ledges ... see
attached.
cheers
Barbara
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