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.
Tag: Misinformation
The report of my extinction was an exaggeration
In the early 20th century many thought that the California condor was extinct. Here’s the story.
Continue reading “The report of my extinction was an exaggeration”
Rattlesnake
Updated 12 December 2019
Nonsense stories about the California condor were not uncommon in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Here’s one such story that was repeatedly published over the course of nearly 25 years.
News happens
Last month, California condors made the national news in a bizarre and erroneous way. Here’s a brief report.
Misspelled scientific names
Correctly spelling scientific names has never been easy. The words and their forms are unfamiliar to most people. Today’s word processors are no help; their spell checkers could hardly be expected to include the scientific names of even common species.
So misspelled scientific names are inevitable. These misspellings can be a problem for anyone doing computerized searches for a particular scientific name. But, for the most part, misspellings are a curiosity and a source of momentary delight for readers.
The California condor has been assigned a number of scientific names through the years. In this post, I note some examples of how those names have been misspelled (and do so with trepidation as I have and will surely continue to misspell names).
Pseudogryps 