Condors at the Grand Canyon - and more

"On Feb. 2. 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of United Nations scientists from around the world, declared that the evidence of a global warming trend is "unequivocal" and that human activity is "very Likely" the driving force in this change."

When Dee and I visited the Grand Canyon this past week we expected tourists, souvenirs, and awesome vistas. We didn't expect that the opening pages of the parks guide would include the above affirmation of what our senses have been telling us. It getting hot out there.

Neither did we expect that the rooms in the park would be green, and we don't mean the decor. There are recycle bins in all the rooms and notices asking that guests use them. Without any fan fair, all of the light bulbs are CFL's. Nice to see our national parks so green.

We didn't expect that a local Safeway would offer a discount for bringing your own canvas bag for groceries. They must have heard HAWKS September tip of the month.

And we didn't expect to find California Condor # 72 flying over Grand Canyon Village one morning. Now, I'm not ashamed to admit that I knew nothing about California Condors before this encounter. Thanks to the net I now know that they are the largest land bird in North America (9' + wing span) and one of the rarest. In the early 1980's there were only 22 birds left in the wild. They were all captured and a breeding program started. The most expensive species reclamation project in history ensued and succeeded. Today there are about 260 California Condors with 145 in the wild. And that includes big vulture # 72 whose picture you see to the right. He's a male, born 4/12/2002 at the World Center for Birds of Prey, one of three captive breeding sites. He was released at Vermillion Canyon in Arizona on 3/3/2003, and like many of his brothers and sisters evidently prefers the tourist areas at Grand Canyon Village. If you were a big, rare vulture you'd probably want to show off too.

Neat to learn new stuff when we travel and maybe get inspired to do something locally. Hmm-I wonder if Harris Teeter would consider a "canvas bag discount" ?