California Condor Convergence on New Year's Eve 2021

It's been more than a year since my last visit to Pinnacles, but New Year's Eve is always a good day to make the trek. On this day, I arrived before 9 am and it was cold and foggy. So all of the incredible sights of High Peaks were hidden by thick fog. Eventually the sun burned off the fog and I spent most of the day waiting for any condors to show. I saw only a few very distant birds and eventually left High Peaks to avoid crowds of tourists and hikers who were also braving the cold. From past experience, I assumed that the condors would converge in the area of High Peaks near sundown, and I was not disappointed. By about 4:30 pm, most of the hikers were gone and a distant circling of condors came closer and closer. At about 4:45, they converged upon the isolated spot I had climbed up to just east of High Peaks, near an outcropping called "Condor Crags." Seven or more birds soared over my head again and again, coming closer and closer and eventually landing atop the pinnacles surrounding me. I watched a pair of condors in the heat of courtship and only later discovered that one of the birds was my old friend Ventana condor 726 - Little Stinker. Previously she'd been "paired" with males 463 and 692, but 463 succumbed to lead poisoning around New Year's Day of 2020. I never saw 692, but male condor 700 -- who had lost his mate Ventana condor 678 to lead poisoning in August -- performed his courtship display for Little Stinker. I assume that since 692 was not with 726, that he is no longer available, though he has not been listed as a casualty on the Pinnacles Condor Profiles. The tourists were gone, the sun was setting and the only sounds were the moan of the sharp cold wind and a raven or falcon breaking the silence with their cries. It was another magical experience and made all of the freezing worthwhile. Just a little after 5pm, all of the condors departed, probably finding their roosts before nightfall. As quickly as they had come, they were gone, which was probably for the best since it was nearly pitch black by the time I stumbled over the last of the rocks on the trail into the parking lot at Bear Gulch and made my way home. The short days of winter are a great time to observe condors at Pinnacles because they do seem to always converge together near High Peaks around dusk, and aside from the intense heat (and irritating flies) of summer, dusk happens around 7 or 8...which makes for a very late arrival home. I continue in my incidentally supported idea that if one really wants a close-up experience with the condors at Pinnacles (which also includes a large number of Ventana/Big Sur birds), go in the late fall or early winter, and plan on being at or near High Peaks just before sundown.

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