Photos in this entry are courtesy of The Raptor Center. Note, the patagial tag and radio transmitter on the wing. All wild condors have that so scientists can monitor them in the wild. Nero, the TRC education Turkey Vulture (who was hatched the same year I was, 1974) was used in a early study on patagial tags. I think the idea was that if smaller Turkey Vultures could get around without problems wearing a tag, California Condors could as well.

If you missed seeing the California Condor from The Raptor Center on tv last night, you can see a video of it at the KARE 11 website. This morning when I came in for my segment, the crew was teasing me that they "saw me somewhere". Were there party photos of Rio Grande Valley bird fest that I wasn't aware of that started circulating on the internet? No, they were referring to the condor segment. I missed it myself last night and watched it online today. Sure enough, I am all over the background taking photos. I look like some cheeseball trying to get on camera, but I was just trying to take as many photos as possible of the condor.

By the way, if you watched the segment and are curious about the bird id question that stumped me, I got a couple of emails from viewers with suggestions and it seems that the caller was seeing a flicker. I think that the bird being described as six inches totally threw me. Also, I tend to think of flickers as tan and spotty, not gray. Ah well, all part of the fun of trying to id birds in 30 seconds.

Okay, I promise that the next entry will be an ornithotabloid report on the Rio Grande Fest. It will include what the other blogs aren't telling you about the festival...mwa ha ha ha ha.