I Want to Fly Like a Condor. . .Condor. . .Condor

The Colca Canyon (in southern Peru) is the 2^nd deepest canyon in the world – over 13,000 feet deep (more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in Arizona)! The views as you overlook Colca are incredible!

I spent a couple of days hiking in the canyon and learned an interesting (and obvious) lesson. I’ve always been a big fan of hiking – although usually in mountains, not canyons. I thought this would be similar. What I failed to think of in advance was that a canyon goes down and a mountain goes up. So on day three of hiking when you’re a bit lazy and tired. . .you have to hike straight up. Nice. I enjoyed ending my hiking experience by heading straight up a 4200 foot incline in 3 hours – before 7am. I think, in the future, I’ll stick to hiking mountains! But the scenery made it all worthwhile!

In addition to great hiking, the Colca Canyon is home to a large population of Andean condors. These birds are usually only found in the mountains above 6500 feet. Andean condors are the largest living flying bird: adults weigh between 24 and 33 pounds, they are over 4 feet long, and their wingspan is second only to the wandering albatross (which has the largest wingspan of all birds).

Condors are in the vulture family, they eat only carrion (animals that are already dead). Adults are mostly black with a white neck ruff and white wing feathers.

Wild condors have huge territories and they often travel over 160 miles per day in search of food. Since they do not kill their own food, they can go for days without eating. When they find a large carcass (deer or cattle) they will gorge themselves, eating up to 4 pounds at once.

These huge birds may not be pretty, but they are incredibly graceful to watch! Andean condors lack a large sternum to anchor large flight muscles and consequently are primarily soarers. They flap their wings when rising from the ground, but after they get to a moderate elevation they no longer need to move their wings at all, they just sail on the air.

It’s beautiful to see. . .

UPDATE (OCTOBER 2011):

Upon returning to the United States, I stopped by the Brookfield Zoo outside of Chicago. They had an Andean Condor and an interesting visual exhibit -- where I could compare my "wingspan" with that of an average adult condor. They're huge!

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