Pinnacles National Park, 9.11.2013 - 11.11.2013

Pinnacles National Park - The home of one of the most endangered birds of the world : The California Condor!

Best place to see the California Condor : At High Peaks. Take the trail from Bear Gulch along Condor Gulch towards High Peaks. There is one Condor nest near the right side of the cliffs. Two Condors (#40 and #44) reside in that crevice in the cliff. 

The Condors keep moving between Big Sur and Pinnacles National Park. There are only 26 left in this area after 6 died due to lead poisoning last year. Lead ammunition is now banned in California due to that event.

http://www.nps.gov/pinn/naturescience/see.htm for more on Condors at Pinnacles.

All focus was on the mighty California Condor, but a few other birds were not too covert in the Park! A shorter-than-usual list of birds for the trip:

1) American Coot - 40

California Condor

2) Bufflehead - 7

3) Hooded Merganser - 2

4) Mallard - 2

5) Horned Grebe - 4

6) Western Grebe - 2

7) Pied-Billed Grebe - 2

8) Snowy Egret - 4

9) Great Blue Heron - 3

10) Double-Crested Cormorant - 1

11) Black-Crowned Night Heron - 1

12) California Condor - 3

13) Turkey Vulture - 1

14) White-Tailed Kite - 1

15) Red-Tailed Hawk - 1

16) Golden Eagle - 1

17) California Quail - 14

18) Wild Turkey - 3

19) Killdeer - 4

Acorn Woodpecker

20) Willet - 4

21) Black-Necked Stilt - 2

22) Greater Yellowlegs - 2

23) Spotted Sandpiper - 1

24) Western Gull - 2

25) California Gull - 5

26) Mourning Dove - 3

27) Anna's Hummingbird - 2

28) Rufous Hummingbird - 3

29) Belted Kingfisher - 2

30) Acorn Woodpecker - 11

31) Northern Flicker - 4

32) Downey Woodpecker - 1

33) Nuttall's Woodpecker - 2

34) Black Phoebe - 2

35) Say's Phoebe - 4

36) Steller's Jay - 6

37) Western Scrub-Jay - 5

38) Common Raven - 2

39) American Crow - 23

Golden Eagle

40) Tree Swallow - 8

41) White-Breasted Nuthatch - 1

42) Red-Breasted Nuthatch - 2

43) Winter Wren - 2

44) Marsh Wren - 2

45) Mountain Bluebird - 2

46) Varied Thrush - 3

47) American Robin - 4

48) Hermit Thrush - 4

49) California Thrasher - 1

50) Cedar Waxwing - 2

51) Lazuli Bunting - 2

52) California Towhee - 2

53) White-Crowned Sparrow - 4

54) Savannah Sparrow - 3

55) Dark-Eyed Junco - 5

56) Tricolored Blackbird - 3

57) Red-Winged Blackbird - 2
58) Greater Roadrunner - 1

Hermit Thrush

Horned Grebe

Killdeer

Say's Phoebe

Savannah Sparrow

Varied Thrush

California Condor

Pinnacles is definitely THE place to visit to see the California Condors with confirmed nest sites. Big Sur occasionally throws up a Condor but not as consistently as Pinnacles National Park.