[EBB Sightings] Condor - did he or didn't he?

Hi all,

Well, my presumed California Condor sighting really got a big response!  I
don't recall nearly as many messages in reply to the UPS guy sighting,
maybe because I'm more "known" and "reputable" (such as it is).  A number
of people are convinced I saw a condor here, and a number think it was
unlikely, and that it was probably a Golden Eagle. I'll answer a few
questions, emphasize some points of my sighting, and offer some thoughts.

Several people mentioned an obvious field mark that I did not see:
numbered wing tags!  I am familiar with these tags from having seen
condors at the Grand Canyon (and I have a picture of one on my fridge at
home - #22).  I may not have been clear in my original post, but the bird
was quite a distance away, perhaps 1/2 to 1 mile and headed pretty much
away from me.  By the time a got my binoculars, it was no more than 30
degrees up, probably less, and decreasing as it got farther away.  I never
had a good enough look at the underparts to even see if it had white wing
linings, much less tags.  I'm not sure I even saw the underparts - I only
know that I saw no pattern on the underparts.

When I first saw it, something didn't look right, so I ran for the binocs.
It clearly did not seem to be an eagle (I have them from time to time over
the yard and even had one way high up at lunch today, and it had a longer
tail and obvious head, totally different shape), and the jizz wasn't quite
right for Turkey Vulture either.  The general impression, subjective as
that is, and its ponderous, smooth flight like an airplane (none of the
tilting that vultures often have) made me suspicious of a condor.  The
wings were at a very slight dihedral, not as v-shaped as a vulture, not as
flat as an eagle, with the tips splayed up. What clinched it for me a was
a distant and brief view that showed the distinctive white patches on the
trailing edge of the wing, symmetrically on each side.  As I mentioned in
my original post, if I was at the Grand Canyon I would have no hesitation
to call it a distant condor.

I regret that I wasn't able to get a picture.  Though my camera was close
by, I was more intent on confirming my suspicion, and by the time I did,
it was too far to have been more than a speck.  I'm not sure that even if
I had gotten a picture at the beginning that it would have been big enough
to be useful.  What I REALLY regret, with the benefit of hindsight, is
that I didn't chase it!  It was basically headed toward Altamont Pass
(please, please, stay away from the windmills!) along the south side of
town.  I should have been able to track it down, but the thought didn't
occur to me at the time.

Now condors are known to move long distances, even over 100 miles in a
day, given favorable conditions.  It certainly is plausible that one
wandered over from the Pinnacles population, but that doesn't make it so. 
I'm trying to figure out how to contact the condor researchers to see if
they have a bird out our way.

The UPS guy was not regarded as a proficient birder - but that doesn't
mean he was wrong (though maybe he was).

I consider myself to be a reasonably competent observer - but that doesn't
mean I was right.  Maybe I was fooled by a vulture or eagle that might
have had an odd posture or flight.  Even experts can make mistakes and
birds don't always look exactly as they "should."  I considered the white
patches on the top of the wing to be diagnostic, but could it have been a
momentary sheen reflecting the sun when the wing was tilted just so? I saw
such a sheen today on a passing raven - but that bird was close to the
sun, while "my" condor was opposite the sun.  I think it pretty much
impossible for such a sheen to have occurred given the lighting
conditions. But maybe I'm wrong.

I have a small sketch online here:
http://homepage.mac.com/jlepson/.cv/jlepson/Sites/.Pictures/EBB/sketch.jpeg-thumb_140_105.jpg

If that doesn't work, try:
http://homepage.mac.com/jlepson/PhotoAlbum9.html

I must add the caveat that I made the sketch this evening, so it may have
been influenced by my thoughts since the time of the sighting. Also, the
sketch with the wing patch is too perpendicular (as if I was looking down
at it) - it was more at an angle.  But it shows what (little) I saw.

While I have some second-guessing and regrets over my sighting, the
combination of flight pattern, wing profile, and the white patches on the
wings' upper surface lead me to conclude that what I saw was indeed,
unlikely at it may be, most probably a condor.  The details may or may not
not be be sufficient to convince a rare bird committee (which should
approach such things with healthy skepticism and rigor), but that's my
story and I'm sticking to it.

Thanks for your attention,
Jaan


-- 
Jaan Lepson
Livermore