Indians were also familiar with the
John
Farrand,
Jr.
MOMENTS
INHISTORY
When California and
the CondorsWereWild
condor'sability to spota carcass
quickly;
alongtheSanJoaquin
River,
the WesternMono calledit we-us-on,
which means"catcheslittle boys
sleeping."
In theCostanoan
dialect
of the people at Carmel and
Monterey,thewordfor condorwas
wahsak.
Theycalledtheirbeautiful
baySukilta.
The Spanishbeganexploring
California in 1542, two decadesafter
Hernfin Cortes arrived in Mexico,
butanother60 yearswentbybefore
thefirstrecorded
Spanish
encounter
witha condor.
In Mayof 1602,three
vessels
commandedby Sebastifin
California's Indians
wild bird in the mountains north of
knew the condor well.
LosAngeles,
itsearlyhistorycenters Vizcalno sailed northward out of
aroundMonterey.
Acapulco,
upthewestcoastof Baja
Manytribes performed
an annualceremony
of renewal in which
a nestlingcondorwas
captured,raised
in captivity,and then
publiclysacrificed.
The Indianswere just
as impressedbythe
condor'sgreat size
as Europeanswould
California's Indians knew the con-
California, and on to the wild shores
dorwell.Manytribesperformed
an of Alta California. Aboard the Santo
annualceremony
ofrenewal
inwhich Ibmds,actingasthe expedition's
a nestlingcondorwascaptured, recorder,wasFrayAntonio de la
raisedin captivity,
andthenpublicly Ascensi6n,of the Discalced Order of
sacrificed.
The Indianswerejustas Our Ladyof Carmel.
impressed
bythecondors
greatsizeas
On December 16 the ships
reached
Sukilta and anchored at its
Europeanswouldlaterbe. To the
sheltered
southern end. Vizcafno
Karok,wholivedalong60 milesof
theKlamathRiverneartheOregon promptlynamedtheplacePuertode
border,
it wasatchwe
wekan,
or"big Monterey after the Conde de
bird."On thecoastjustto thewest, Monterey,
Viceroyof NewSpain.By
theTolowaalludedmorepoetically January3, 1603,whentheexpedito thebird'ssize,callingit talong tion sailednorthwardagain,Fray
yichah, the "whale-lifter."The Antonio had noted: "There are other
later be.
"When California was wild," wrote
JohnMuir,"itwasthefloweriest
part
of thecontinent."
Amongthestate's
manyothersuperlatives,
Muirmight
also have noted that when California
waswild,itwasthestronghold
ofthe
continent's
largestbird.California
Condorswere seenby Lewisand
ClarkalongtheColumbiaRiverin
1805,andprehistoric
remainshave
been found as far east as Florida and
New York. But when the condor
emerged
fromprehistory
intohistory, it did so in California, and
californianus).
PhotobyTedSchiffman/Peter
Arnold,Inc.
althoughit madeitslaststandasa CaliforniaCondor(L:ymnogyps
Volume 45, Number 5 ß11•
birdsof the shapeof turkeys,the Longinos
Martinez,a botanist
work- California Condor, but it wasalmost
atMonterey,
whose
Spanish
largestI haveseenon thevoyage. ing along the California coast, certainly
Fromthetip of onewingto thatof secured
aspecimen
andevencameup governorwelcomedvessels
of all
the other was found to measure sev- with a scientific name of sorts. In a countries.
Of theroughly
96daysthe
enteenpalms."One palmequals letter Don Jos•wroteto a friend in Discoveryspent at anchor in
abouteightinches,
soFrayAntonio's Madrid, after he returnedto Mexico California waters, 56 were at
measurement was more than eleven fromMonterey,helistedthespeci- Monterey.We knowfromMenzies'
Amongthem journalthatMontereywastheone
feet.Thewingspan
of anadultcon- menshewassending.
dor is only about nine feet, but wassomething
he called"Vultur placein Californiawherehemade
because
of thisveryexaggeration
and Harpyia(varietas:
Monstruosa)"-a extensivecollections.
FrayAntonio'scomparisonof the namethatcanonlyhavereferred
to a
NearPointPinosontheMonterey
birdto a turkey,thesefewlinesare California Condor. However, the Peninsula,
onWednesda)•
December
acceptedasthe firstmentionof a specimen
waslost,andtheletterand 5, Menzies recordedthat he and two
CaliforniaCondorbyaEuropean. nameweren'tpublisheduntil the companions
"shota newspecies
of
Vizcaino's
partyleftusthenames 20thcentury,
bywhichtimetheyhad Hawk and severalQuails,but the
Montereyand Carmel, but they become mere curiosities. One hun- Countrywassoexceedingly
dryand
since parched
thatwefoundbutfewplants
didn'tnamethegreatbirdthatlived dredninetyyearshadelapsed
there. It was still the wahsak,and for FrayAntoniofirstreported
thecon- in Flower."The "Quails"werethe
morethana century
andahalf,noth- dor. There was still no formal scien- CaliforniaQuail, andthe "Hawk"
butthiswassoonto wasprobablya CaliforniaCondor,
ingfurtherwasheardofit. Then,on tificdescription,
October 8, 1769, lessthan two weeks change.
becausethe journal he kept in
before he discovered San Francisco
DonJosh's
letterisdatedApril15, California
mentions
nootherraptor.
Of the Indiansat Montereyhe
Bay, Gasparde Porto15camped 1792. Nine months later, on
beside a river near what is now
November14, H.M.S. Discovery,wrote: "Their food at this time was
Watsonville, a few miles north of
chieflyshellfish,whichtheWomen
Monterey.
Closebywasavillageof
collected
alongshore,
whiletheMen
Costanoan Indians where the annual
1oungd
abouttheCountrywiththeir
sacrifice
of ayoungwahsak
mayhave
BowsandArrows,killingRabbets
been taking place. Father Juan
andQuails,whichtheygenerally
Crespi,a memberof theexpedition, sure where or when
brought
to ustobarterforbeads
and
other trinkets." Like Jos• de
wrote:"In thisplacewesawa bird Menzies obtained his
thatthepeople
hadkilledandstuffed
LonginosMartinez before him,
with grass.
To someit lookedlikea specimenof the
Menzies
wasprimarily
abotanist.
He
is remembered in the scientific names
royaleagle[•iguilarea•.It wasmeaof theDouglas-fir,
Pacific
madrone,
suredfromthepointof onewingto CaliforniaCondor,but
thepointoftheother,andwasfound it was almostcertainly andbristleflower
(the"piggy-back
plant"offlorists),
andinMenziesia,
a
to beelevenpalms.Forthisreason,
thesoldiers
namedtheplacetheRio at Monterey,whose
smallgroupof shrubs
relatedto the
rhododendrons. Menzies discovered
dePSjaro
[RiveroftheBird]."
Spanish
governor
FatherJuan'smeasurementof
allof theseplantsduringhisvoyage
withCaptainVancouver.
elevenpalmsisequivalent
to alittle welcomed vessels of
more than seven feet. Such a small
TheDiscovery
returned
toEngland
in 1795.Thebirdspecimens
collectwingspan
isusually
takenasevidenceall countries.
that this bird was an immature conedbyMenziesfoundtheirwayinto
dor,butthosewhothought
it looked
thehandsofGeorge
Shaw,
Keeper
of
likean•iguilarealmighthavebeen commandedby Captain George the ZoologicalDepartmentof the
right.Eventhen,dguilarealwasthe Vancouver,sailedinto San Francisco. British Museum, who had the conusualSpanish
namefor theGolden On boardwastheScottish
physician dormadeintoamountandplaced
on
Eagle,
whichhasawingspan
ofabout and naturalist Archibald Menzies. exhibit. In 1798, he describedit asa
eleven
palms.
Whatever
thebirdwas, Fortherestof theyearandduring new speciesin Volume 9 of The
theriverthatflowspastWatsonville
is part of 1793, the DiscoveryvisitedNaturalists'
Miscellany,
apublication
in
which
he
and
his
co-editor,
stillcalled
thePajaro.
pointsalongtheCalifornia
coast.
No
No such doubt surrounds the next one knows for sure where or when
FrederickPolydoreNodder, deobtained
hisspecimen
ofthe scribed
Spanishrecord.In 1792, Josdde Menzies
newspecies'
of allkindsthat
NO one
knows
for
1170- American Birds,Winter 1991
were received at the British Museum.
Shaw named the bird the Californian
Never again
will
Vulture, Vulturcalij•rnianus,
and
noted
that
"This
Vulture
was
brought
overbyMr. Menzies,
during
his expedition with Captain
Vancouver, from the coast of
California, and is now in the British
Museum."
With Shaw's
description,
thefirst
two centuries
of the California
Condor's
recorded
historycameto a
close.We all knowwhat hashappenedduringits secondtwo centuries. The Costanoan Indians of
the great birdscome
glidingdownto the
beachat Monterey
in the morning
to scuffle around the
carcasses of stranded
whales. The last
Rivercanbefoundonanyroadmap.
Andlockedawayina museum
casein
England,
atTringin Hertfordshire,
is
theoriginalspecimen
of Vulturcalij•rnianus,nowGymnogyps
cali•rnianus. After two centuries, it is the
onlyoneof Menzies'birdspecimens
that survives. The head and neck
weara coatofdullpinkpaint.Partof
the bill is missingand has been
replaced
with paintedwax.Mostof
thelesser
wingcoverts
aregone.The
legsaredamaged,havingdecayed
beforetheydriedout.Onewriterhas
describedit as"arustyanddisreputablelookingpieceof museum
property."Still, thistatteredspecimenisperhaps
theultimatesouvenir
Monterey, whom Fray Antonio
sacrificeof a young
notedfortheirgentleness,
havefared
nobetter.Neveragainwill thegreat condor has been
birdscomegliding
downtothebeach
atMonterey
inthemorning
toscuffle performed.
wild, andwasthefloweriest
partof
around the carcasses of stranded
the continent.
of the time when California was still
ß
whales.
The lastsacrifice
of a young
manydecades
ago.
condorhasbeenperformed.
No one spoken
But
there
are
still
traces of that
callsit wahsakanymore,and the
vanished
era
in
California's
history.
nameSukiltaisforgotten;
bothare
wordsina language
thatceased
to be Monterey,Carmel,andthePalaro
COMING
INFUTURE
ISSUES
OF
American Birds
Birdingin Russia
A specialreporton bird intelligence-Howmuchdo they reallyknow?
Reintroducingthe Military Macaw
ObserverBias--Do youhaveit?
How to cure it.
Volume 45, Number 5 - 1171