While stumbling around my bibliography about the California condor, I have noticed that there are condors and then there are “condor things”. This post is about the latter.
The best condor thing I have run across so far is the condor situation (Kent 1938), a pair of words that attempts to encapsulate the entire story of California condors and humans. (All my sources for this post are listed at the end of this post by author and year.)
It is hardly surprising that California condors are found in a condor area (Peterson 1963), condor region (Anonymous 1965), and in condor country (Peyton 1932). Fortunately, there are places set aside just for them: a condor refuge (Anonymous 1951) and a condor sanctuary (Covel 1965). More specifically, condors are likely to be found in a condor cave (Eve & Turner 1992) and in condor roost trees (Anonymous 1985).
If you want to know how many California condors there are, you need condor counters (Suffel 1967) who will carry our their work at a condor observation point (Barbour 1982).
There are no shortage of condor job titles, such as condor naturalist (Todd 1974), condor patrolman (Blackstone 1961), and condor warden (Kelly 2002). A person can also be a condor biologist (Todd 1974), condor scientist (Moir 2007), or a condor veterinary coordinator (Stringfield 2007). No doubt the veterinarians provide condor care (Graham 2007) but only after capturing their patients with condor traps (Anonymous 1953) managed by condor crews (Mee & others 2007).
People can be part of a condor preservation group (Watson 1965). Group members might exchange condor lore (Blachley 1993), condor anecdotes (Anonymous 1966a), and condor tales (Wilbur 2004). And these good people might contribute to a condor protection fund (Anonymous 1961), condor research fund (Stephens 1940), and condor sanctuary fund (Anonymous 1964).
In a zoo, the condor exhibit (Armenta 2007) will be managed by condor keepers (Cox 1985). In a museum, one might find a diorama showing a condor group (Allen 1909).
People like to communicate about California condors. They might write a condor account (Sargent 1937), take and view condor photos (Anonymous 1966b), or stand in front of an audience and present a condor program (Widmann 1968). Other people may write or read a condor manual (Anonymous 1942) or condor report (Kuehler Toone 1986).
Since long before people from the Old World began to live among California condors, these birds have been integral to the lives of the peoples indigenous to the New World. These Native Americans may perform a condor dance (Loeb 1932) as part of a condor ceremony (Kroeber 1932).
And let’s not forget the birds themselves, the condor population (Watson 1964) which has its own condor culture (Kaplan 2002).
I’ll stop there.
—
Allen, J A. 1909. The habitat groups of North American birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Auk. April.
Anonymous. 1942. Condor manual released. Los Angeles Times. January 5.
Anonymous. 1951. The condor’s last stand: U.S. sets up 10,000-acre California refuge for 60 remaining birds. Life. April 09.
Anonymous. 1953. Survey to seek new sites for condor traps. Los Angeles Times. August 13.
Anonymous. 1961. Contribution appreciated. Gull. November.
Anonymous. 1964. There’s still time to give to the condor sanctuary fund … but do it today! Western Tanager. May.
Anonymous. 1965. Blasts in condor region stopped. Los Angeles Times. June 24.
Anonymous. 1966a. About condors. Western Tanager. September.
Anonymous. 1966b. Calendar. Western Tanager. November.
Anonymous. 1985. Blue Ridge habitat management plan. Bureau of Land Management.
Armenta, Vincent. 2007. Condor action honors magnificent bird. Santa Ynez Valley News. October 26.
Barbour, D Bruce. 1982. Handling cathartids. Condor Field Notes. January.
Blachley, Annie. 1993. Los Padres forest offers good views for condors. Los Angeles Times. May 13.
Blackstone, Bob. 1961. [Untitled]. Western Tanager. January.
Covel, Paul. 1965. Covel’s conservation corner. Gull. June.
Cox, Cathleen. 1985. Condors in jeopardy. Zoo View. Summer.
Eve, Jack, and John Turner. 1992. Item: construct one California condor cave. Zoonooz. April.
Graham, Chuck. 2007. Intensive condor care: banning lead bullets and providing vaccines. E Magazine. September-October.
Kaplan, Matt. 2002. Plight of the Condor. New Scientist. October 5.
Kelly, David. 2002. Welfare state for vultures. Los Angeles Times. July 24.
Kent, W A. 1938. Why exterminate us? Western Tanager. May.
Kroeber, A L. 1932. The Patwin and their neighbors. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology.
Kuehler Toone, Cyndi. 1986. Condor report. Zoonooz. February.
Loeb, E M. 1932. The Western Kuksu Cult. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology.
Mee, Allan, and others. 2007. Junk ingestion and nestling mortality in a reintroduced population of California condors Gymnogyps californianus. Bird Conservation International. June.
Moir, John. 2007. The face of recovery. Birder’s World. December.
Peterson, Harold G. 1963. Field trips for May. Gull. May.
Peyton, Sidney B. 1932. Visiting the condor country. Oölogist. February.
Sargent, Grace. 1937. Bent’s Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey. News from the Bird-Banders. August.
Stephens, Laura A. 1940. Treasurer’s report for 1939. Gull. February.
Stringfield, Cynthia E. 2007. Autobiography for Cynthia E. Stringfield. Proceedings [American Association of Zoo Veterinarians].
Suffel, G Shumway. 1967. Southern California birds. Western Tanager. December.
Todd, Frank S. 1974. Maturation and behaviour of the California condor Gymnogyps Californianus at the Los Angeles Zoo. International Zoo Yearbook.
Watson, Bill. 1964. Conservation notes. Western Tanager. December.
Watson, Bill. 1965. Conservation notes. Western Tanager. July-August.
Widmann, Otto. 1968. Audubon activities. Western Tanager. June.
Wilbur, Sanford R. 2004. Condor tales: what I learned in twelve years with the big birds. Symbios.
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