California condor 700 courts California condor 726 (aka Little Stinker) at Pinnacles National Park

Every so often I devote a full day to condor watching at Pinnacles National Park. Arrive early, leave late, and spend the day just hoping a few of the many birds I've known will appear. Arrive early because parking lots fill up remarkably fast and leave late because I've found that a few or many condors will converge upon the High Peaks area shortly before sunset.

Throughout this day, which was warm and cloudless and the mostly still air hummed with the buzz of flies and swarming winged carpenter ants, I spotted only distant condors, the nearest were barely specks in my viewfinder on full zoom. So most of my time was spent examining wildflowers, capturing clips of the fantastic topography and swatting away countless flies.

As the shadows stretched and yawned, I began to despair of any condors showing up at all, even though I am convinced that if you are near High Peaks as dusk settles in, you will, absolutely will, see California condors. 700 and 726 were the first identifiable condors to arrive. 726 was released by the Ventana Wildlife Society in Big Sur, and unlike the condors released by the condor program at Pinnacles National Park, she received a name in addition to a number, so 726 is also "Little Stinker."

I've watched her grow into adulthood, losing her dark-speckled youth under the makeup of adult coloration. I've watched her courted by Pinnacles condors 463 and 692 and observed their unusual three-way relationship. When 463 was lost to lead poisoning, she continued to nest with 692. But when I visited the park on New Year's Eve 2021, she was accompanied by Pinnacles condor 700, who was deep in the throes of courtship display (as exhibited here). Since I assume that condors mate for life, I also assumed that something had happened to remove her old mate 692 from the picture, because he was nowhere to be seen.

Condors generally court and begin nesting at the end of the year near the solstice, so I was very surprised that on this (March 23) visit 700 was so incredibly amorous toward Little Stinker, and while she seemed annoyed by his attentions, she was much more forgiving and gentle in her rebuffs than I have ever seen her with 692 -- tolerating 700's courtship dance and close contact with only a gentle nip here and there. At times he actually pushed her off her perch with his display.

Earlier today, before posting the video, I called the condor program at Pinnacles and spoke with someone who knows the birds far better than I ever will. She assured me that 692 is still alive (I had managed to find one frame of my terrible condor video footage in which I could almost recognize a white 92 on a purple tag -- which is 692's badge) and that 700 had succeeded 692 as Little Stinker's mate. I also asked about courtship in March and the kind woman on the other end of the line explained that although 726 has laid eggs a few times over the years, they have never hatched. This year, 700 and 726's egg was found to be infertile and removed from the nest (condors, like many birds, will continue to brood an unhatched egg until it finally breaks) and when eggs disappear like this (or are lost to predation or nest mishaps) a condor pair will attempt to breed again. So this is why 700 is courting out of season. In fact, there's one moment in this clip where he attempts to mount Little Stinker but she isn't having it.

Juvenile Ventana condor 986 also known as Kawkikat is perched in the distance observing the pair as they interact. She displays youthful coloration -- feathers more brown rather than the coal black of adult plumage, face and neck equally dark, irises brown rather than the vermillion of adults.

Although 700 and 726 were among the first to arrive and settle near me, soon the sky was filled with condors and turkey vultures soaring and circling and performing all sorts of aeronautical feats. I counted ten condors in flight at the same time.

I apologize for the shaky quality and terrible sound of the video, but I didn't want to attempt stabilization because it generally lowers image quality and there are some stunning moments in this footage. The wind roar is annoying, but it reminds of another thing I may have learned which is that the wind always seems to become more intense as dusk settles in, and may be one of the reasons the birds seem to fill the High Peaks sky at this time of day -- like kites, the condors are supported by thermals and strong winds and their flight is more effortless. There are also annoying ratcheting noises (caused by my camera strap scraping my monopod) and the scratching sound of my lens cap swaying in the wind. But again, these are elements of the encounter which I didn't want (or know how) to erase, because they add a certain depth. Condors are mostly silent though they will grunt or even "bark" from time to time (726 hisses at :47, 700 grunts at 1:09) , but songbirds and the twittering of swifts are audible in the audio.

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