Monday, August 21, 2006


The Peregrine Fund: California Condor Restoration-Conservation Project has made for great entertainment at the cabin (yes in southern Utah….I think they got a little lost). They seem to have made it their favorite hangout these days. This past weekend, we counted some 20 condors in the sky and some 13 relaxing on the cabin roof at one time. They are pretty impressive birds, huge, and not the most attractive. The "hot condor lady" as Nina and Matthew dubbed her, even dropped by to hang on the balcony to get signals from the condors in the area. These are an endangered species but from what we have learned are doing well and even reproducing in the wild. Some of their favorite past times include ripping shingles off of Grandpa's cabin roof, destroying window screens, and playing king of the mountain on the roof, nearby trees, etc. Gentle creatures, which apparently are not aggressive but rather scavenge, sometimes stealing the goods from the smaller turkey vultures. Good thing since I had to get pretty close to take these pictures since I was lacking the appropriate lens. And I only almost fell off the edge of the cliff on which the cabin sits once. We are told that we should throw pebbles and things to scare them off so they do not think that larger creatures are friendly and end up somebody’s lunch. So I guess that excuses the incident of earlier years when Dad cast Maddie’s Sponge Bob fishing pole to get the birds to move which somehow attached itself to the condor’s leg. He looked so majestic flying off into the sunset with a jolly looking Sponge Bob dangling gracefully from fishing wire. I don’t know who was more upset, the bird, or Maddie.

5 comments:

christina said...

Her name is Marti, and we had her over for breakfast yesterday.

Anonymous said...

great pics sarah. have you ever thought of making a career out of.....oh wait, you have.

Rachel said...

or dad?

LuLuBelle said...

you're not supposed to tell that story! Just for the record, the sponge bob sporting bird was seen on many occasions later sans S. Bob and doing fine.

Britten said...

Those things are huge.