California Condor in Flight

[Loi Nguyen]

Image taken last week on a private tour of the historic Tejon ranch in Southern California, where the last wild Condors were trapped 30 some years ago. Today, thanks to conservation effort of many organizations and individuals, they are again wild and free on this historic ranch. This is an adult condor leaping from his perch with the Tahachepi mountains in the background. I was a bit slow and almost clipped the feet, so decided to add a strip of canvas to the bottom and left. I could have removed the tag, but that wouldn't be authentic. All wild condors today carry a tag both on the upper and underside of the wings for ease of visual identification. Even the babies born in the wild are tagged to monitor their health agaisnt ingesting micro-trash or lead fragments in carcass. Perhaps someday we will see a truly wild condor without tag.

1DX
70-200F2.8 II + 1.4x III @ 185mm
1/1600
f5.6
ISO-800
Handheld

Added canvas to the left and bottom.

I often put a 1.4X III or 2.0X III on my 70-200f2.8 to give me the flexibility. The IQ even with the TCs is quite excellent, but i do have to be a bit more careful with landholding at the longer focal lengths and pre-focus. In this case, i didn't actually need the TC.

Thank you for your comments.

Loi

[arash_hazeghi]

great light and BG Loi. This is a very unique specie and not that many flight shots around. I wish he had a better HA and as you noted they are all tagged. I wonder if there is a location where you can photograph them from above to show the dorsal view. It may not be possible without a helicopter

TFS

[Loi Nguyen]

great light and BG Loi. This is a very unique specie and not that many flight shots around. I wish he had a better HA and as you noted they are all tagged. I wonder if there is a location where you can photograph them from above to show the dorsal view. It may not be possible without a helicopter

TFS

Thank you Arash. I felf very privilege to be able to take photographs of the condors. i have had pictures from above taken at Bitter Creek NWR before, but at such a great distance that the bird is small in the frame. I was with a tour group, so not much freedom to choose location or time. Bitter Creek is closed to the public. Loi

[Marina Scarr]

The BG of this image is just amazing and it goes so well with your amazing condor. Wish to just see a little more of the bird's face.

[Don Nelson]

Arash
The Arizona birds tend to congregate near the old bridge across the Colorado at Marble Canyon. they are at your height and below, so it may be possible early in the morning.
(the old bridge has been preserved as a human footbridge and canyon viewpoint -- you will have good access. All are tagged there as well.

[Binu John]

Excellent shot, Loi! That background compliments the subject well! Well done!

[Daniel Cadieux]

You were privileged indeed! Not many flight shots of these guys. A better head angle would have been bonus, but I like what you did with the canvas extension, not to mention the beautiful nicely depicting the habitat. Well done, and surely memorable for a long time!!!

[Barry Ekstrand]

A great shot, Loi, congratulations. Good to see that the California Condor conservation effort has been working. This brings back many memories for me as we lived in Bakersfield for 11 years with our first two kids being born there, back at the time that the conservation effort got started. When the kids were little we loved to drive up to Tehachapi in the spring and summer and up the Grapevine to Mt. Pinos in the winter, they made for nice day trips "up the mountain".

Barry

[David Salem]

Great looking shot of a not often seen rare bird. Love seeing Tejon in the BG. Wish we could see the head a little better but still pretty darn nice. Well done Loi

[Karl Egressy]

Great species to have, Loi. Nice flight shot.