Birders rely on guides, handbooks, and lists to locate birds and then keep track of the birds they have observed. So these documents provide a record of a bird species’ existence.
In this post, I note a dozen lesser-known guides, handbooks, and lists that include the California condor. Among these are 2 journal articles, 10 books, and 2 different editions of the same author’s work. One of the books is organized around locales rather than species.
Below I show cover and/or title pages, the condor-related entry, and the citation. Several of the documents include more condor content than is shown here.
Sams, James R, and Ken Stott Jr. 1959. Birds of San Diego County, California. Occasional Papers of the San Diego Society of Natural History. June.
Pyle, Robert L. 1961. Birds of Southern California. Revised edition. Los Angeles Audubon Society.
Lane, James A. 1968. A Birdwatcher’s Guide to Southern California. L & P.
Lane, James A. 1979. A Birder’s Guide to Southern California. 4th edition. L & P.
McCaskie, Guy, Pierre Devillers, Alan M Craig, Clifford R Lyons, Virginia P Coughran, and Jean P Craig. 1970. A Checklist of the Birds of California. California Birds. January.
Wyatt, Betty, and Audrey Stoye, editors. 1983. Birding at the Bottom of the Bay. Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society.
Brown, Vinson, Henry Weston Jr, and Jerry Buzzell. 1986. Handbook of California Birds. 3rd edition. Naturegraph.
DeSante, David, and Peter Pyle. 1986. Distributional Checklist of North American Birds. Artemisia.
White, Anthony. 1990. List of North American Birds. Bird Commander.
Clark, Jeanne L. 1992. California Wildlife Viewing Guide. Falcon.
Hamilton, Robert A, and Douglas R Willick. 1996. The Birds of Orange County, California. Sea and Sage.
Gatlin, Brian P. 2013. Birds of the Grand Canyon Region. 3rd edition. Grand Canyon Association.
The cover of the 4th edition of Lane’s guide, which features a California condor, is shown in More black & white illustrations from books: 1944-1996. A pair of illustrations from Brown, Weston, and Buzzell’s handbook are in Illustrations from bird guides: 1961-1990. Additional related posts include Field guides: 1904-1950, Place-specific check lists from the 19th century, and Regional field guides & checklists: 1964-2009.
Pseudogryps 