California Condors (Gymnogyps Californianus) Court atop High Peaks Pinnacle

California Condor 692 and 463 spread their wings and dance in courtship display atop one of the High Peaks pinnacles at Pinnacles National Park in the afternoon of a brisk November Friday. The irritating color shifts are due to the stark contrast between their backlighting and the shady stone of the pinnacle...and my inability to make color corrections that make any sort of sense. Tis the season of condor courting and these guys were eager to get their point across atop a few different pinnacles. Notice the striking coloration of the males as they display (mostly to each other) and how their necks are extended while 726 (green 26 tag on wing) has her ruff up and displays little color. California condors have a remarkable ability to put on their colors ala chameleons or --probably more appropriately -- wild turkeys. They can go from drab to garish in only a moment and I love the juxtaposition of the brilliant sort of fuchsia patch at the base of their necks and the lavendar or lilac shades foreward of that. I also love how Little Stinker (726) nips at 692 while he's displaying, as if she's annoyed that she has to put up with all this machismo.

The audio track is a snippet of Gabriel Fauré's Berceuse, Op. 16 performed mostly by
Jean-Claude Féret (because I think you have to be super-human to play violin and piano in tandem) obtained from musopen.org where it is described as mostly free from copyright restrictions.

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