CONDORS' SOARING SUCCESS; ARIZONA'S BIRDS FLY IN FORMATION.Byline: Jerry Nachtigal Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. The scene was so remarkable that even a seasoned condor watcher like Mark Vekasy almost was moved to tears. Eleven California condors, almost one-tenth of the species' entire surviving population, were soaring together in the blue sky above northern Arizona's dramatic red sandstone (Geol.) See under Sandstone. a name given to two extensive series of British rocks in which red sandstones predominate, one below, and the other above, the coal measures. canyons, riding thermals on wings stretching nearly 10 feet across. ``They were in a real tight group just circling around. It doesn't happen very often,'' said Vekasy, part of a team of biologists who track the birds from sunup to sundown. ``It's a pretty neat sight.'' It's been a little more than a year since juvenile condors bred in captivity were brought to this sparsely populated region straddling strad·dle v. strad·dled, strad·dling, strad·dles v.tr. 1. a. To stand or sit with a leg on each side of; bestride: straddle a horse. b. the Arizona-Utah line, part of the campaign to save North America's largest and rarest bird from extinction. The black-feathered giants with bald, dull-orange heads occasionally float across the Grand Canyon Grand Canyon, great gorge of the Colorado River, one of the natural wonders of the world; c.1 mi (1.6 km) deep, from 4 to 18 mi (6.4–29 km) wide, and 217 mi (349 km) long, NW Ariz. , which begins 30 miles to the south, delighting tourists and river rafters. ``I think it's been a great success story,'' said Robert Mesta, condor program coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. ``They're doing all the right things.'' Thirty-four condors are now living in the wild - 19 in California and 15 in Arizona. The wild and captive populations together total just 132. Five more are to be released along California's Big Sur Big Sur Scenic region along the Pacific coast of California, U.S. It comprises a ruggedly beautiful stretch of seacoast 100 mi (160 km) long. Popular with tourists and naturalists, it extends southward from Carmel to the Hearst Castle at San Simeon. coast next weekend. The initial success of the Arizona condors The Arizona Condors joined the Western Soccer League in 1989. The team joined the American Professional Soccer League in 1990 when the WSL merged with the American Soccer League. The club played in Phoenix, Arizona. Year-by-year Year Division League Reg. has raised hopes of one day establishing a breeding population of 150 birds in remote northern Arizona Northern Arizona is dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the southern border of which in Arizona is called the Mogollon Rim. In the West lies the Grand Canyon, which was cut by the flow of the Colorado River while the land slowly rose around it. . Such a goal was unthinkable in 1987, when the species had dwindled to a total of seven birds in the wild in California. No condors had been seen in Arizona since 1924. In all, 19 condors have been turned loose in the Arizona wilderness, each equipped with a small radio transmitter so biologists from the Peregrine Fund - a conservation group assisting federal and state agencies with the reintroduction - can follow their movements. |
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