Our epic National Park trip began with a birds eye
view of the Grand Canyon from the Pilatus.
Amazing how you fly over miles of desert only
to find a HUGE crack in the earth.  How large?
277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and over a
mile deep.
From airplane wings to bird wings…  in this case,
the California Condor. Regarded as extinct in 1987, the 22
remaining condors were captured and bred in
captivity.  Now there are over 400, radio tagged
 and monitored by the California Condor
Conservation Project.
Condors are remarkably graceful soarers, using
their 9 foot wingspan to glide through Utah,
 Arizona and California.
National Park Rangers use radio telemetry to
help track the condor’s radio transmitter tags.
With bald heads perfect for carrion
eating, this is a face only a mother
could love.
To raise condor chicks in captivity,
expert breeders at the San Diego Zoo
used puppets that looked like parents
for feeding! (Photo courtesy of SDZ)

           

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