For the past four years, while promoting
my book "Condor Tales," I've
been talking about California condors from Maine to California.
It's been a lot of fun, describing for a variety of audiences
the history of the condor and the condor recovery effort, and
sharing my own experiences with the big birds in their last days
as a natural population. Every program has been different: sometimes
I've spent almost the whole time talking about condor biology;
sometimes the groups have been very interested in the socio-politics
of endangered species preservation; and sometimes I've just reminisced
about what it's like to be a wildlife biologist working in the
field, lab and library with a fascinating species.
My book describes the condor and the condor research and recovery
effort to the early 1980s, so my programs are largely historical,
and current events are covered only incidentally. But no question-and-answer
period goes by without some inquiries about the current status
of the condor. I know some of the answers, thanks to information
provided by friends still associated with the program, and thanks
to my own intermittent enquiries. But it's a quarter-century since
I left the condor program, so sometimes I'm in that position of
just knowing enough to be dangerous. Still, the questions get
asked, and they are often the same from meeting to meeting. I'd
like to know more, both for myself and for my "book tour"
audiences.
In the essays that follow, I'm going to lay out a series of California
condor questions and issues that have been raised during my "Condor
Tales" travels. I'll give my take on them, then hopefully
some of the current condor folks will provide additional information,
clarification, or correction. I don't have these pages set up
as a "blog," but if I receive
comments I'll post them on the appropriate webpages as follow-ups
to my essays.