As I prowl libraries and book shops (physical and digital) seeking historical information about the California condor, I often encounter thought-provoking items that are about much more than the condor. That’s because the condor has long been employed as an example of the larger “crisis” involving humans and our environment.
For this post I consider 2 articles from the 1st half of the 20th century that show the long-standing environmental concerns of 2 thoughtful humans.
Back in the heyday of print newspapers, editors sometimes collected a number of short news items together and titled the assemblage with a headline suitable only for the 1st item. Presumably, this was done so as to not waste space (ink and paper) with multiple headlines.
I have found information about California condors buried in these “piles” of news. While that condor news is itself useful, I also value the historical context for the condor news that is provided by the other items in the set.
For this post, I provide 5 such examples of “minor items” bundled together into a single article. The examples come from 3 newspapers and span nearly a century.
In the 1950s, concern about the extinction of the California condor led to a proposal to move California condors to an island in the Pacific Ocean. Here’s a look at that idea.
While searching for mentions of the California condor in books about the history of California, I happened upon a book concerning the exploration and colonization of California by Russians. This book started me on a bit of an expedition. This post is a report on what I have learned so far.
A significant threat to California condors today is “microtrash”, small bits of trash that condors find on the ground and eat. This post provides some current information about the microtrash problem and then notes a century-old case of microtrash causing the death of a condor.
Continue reading “An early report of death due to microtrash”
