My dream of seeing a California Condor is quickly fading. My chances are slim (real slim) and none (even though they live here in Southern Utah). There was this one peak in Utah (Lava Peak within the Zion National Park boundaries) where they supposedly hang out in numbers as high as 20. So, today, I drove first up a 20-mile winding road that was barely paved and the speed limit was 20. Then, I took a podunk dirt road another few miles up to the peak. While the view from there was beyond beautiful, I did not see any condors. I did, however, see a wild turkey. Kinda NOT the same thing. Oh well!
These enormous, majestic birds date back to prehistoric times and are not yet safe from extinction. In the 80s they came very close to extinction, but thanks to extensive recovery projects, they are making a (small) comeback. Utah and Zion National Park are very proud of their efforts to bring back this bird from the verge of extinction. I would love to see one, but it doesn't seem to be in the cards for this trip.
.
A turkey. Not exactly!!
A long dirt-road to nowhere to see a non-existent condor!
(Click the play button to play video.)
