Occurrence of the Condor in Humboldt County
Occurrence of the Condor in Humboldt County
There is no doubt but that the Condor (Ctymnogyps californianus) once occurred in numbers in Humboldt County, California. There are now two mounted specimens in Eureka. One, in the collection of the Public Library, was mounted by Mr. Charles Fiebig, and was secured from a dead spruce tree on the Devoy place, on Kneeland prairie, eighteen miles from Eureka, altitude 2200 feet, in the fall of 1889 or 1890.
The other bird is in the collection of Dr. Ottemer in Eureka and was mounted by William Rotermund. This specimen was captured near the old Olmstead place on Yager Creek, altitude 1800 feet, about sixty miles east of Eureka, in the fall of 1892. Old settlers claim that the Condor was plentiful in early days in the Humboldt region. In my opinion it is now extinct here.
Franklin J. Smith
Eureka, California, July 21, 1916
