A Condor Moment

Headed South through Silcon Valley and "the salad bowl" to Pinnacles National Monument in search of the California Condor ... hiked about and saw some great scenery and beautiful wild flowers like these Dodecatheon clevelandii ... Condor Gulch yielded no sign of the big birds on my first pass, but I resolved to head back and wait till it got dark. Low and behold, just as I was about to give up hope and head home content in having enjoyed the scenery and flowers ... then in the space of ten minutes I saw three California Condors! Once you see one, telling it from the myriad Turkey Vultures here is pretty straightforward. From a great distance so no pics - something like 1% of the World Population of a bird that was on the very brink of extinction but (with our help) is staging a comeback of sorts.