Goodbye little hummingbird

Goodbye, Aurevoir, Hasta la Vista, Adios, Ciao, Auf Wiedersehen, Doei, Farvel, Zenaj, Sayonara, Namaste, Yasou, Slan, Hwyl fawr, in just a few languages—all of them goodbyes.

So long to the little hummingbirds that visit my feeders every day.  I haven’t seen them for a few days and although experts say to keep the feeders up until you haven’t seen any for 2 weeks, I am thinking that they have started their long southward trek.  Soon I won’t have to bring in that nectar feeder at night to stop Rocky raccoon and he will have to get his kool aid from elsewhere.  Goodbye to the hummingbirds and happy travels.  

California condor in Grand Canyon National Park

The california condor is one of the rarest birds in North America.  In 1987 they became extinct in the wild. Due to the efforts of many people and zoos a breeding program was instituted.  Now there are around 400 California condors in the world and half are in the wild.  That doesn't sound like many but it's a far cry better than the 22 that were left in 1982!

As of April 2013 there were 73 Condors in Arizona and Utah.  Many live in the Grand Canyon.
When we visited the Grand Canyon in July were were lucky enough to see three Condors there.  They were number 23, 80 and 16.  You can look them up on the condor chart below.  The charts tells you if they bred using a puppet (a condor like puppet so that they imprint on condors not the keepers) how old, when they were reintroduced in the wild and their sex.

Condor tag chart