{"id":2086,"date":"2019-07-15T17:55:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T17:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jamesorrphoto.com\/?p=2086"},"modified":"2019-08-05T10:50:41","modified_gmt":"2019-08-05T10:50:41","slug":"in-the-shadow-of-the-andean-condor-in-colca-canyon-peru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jamesorrphoto.com\/?p=2086","title":{"rendered":"In the Shadow of the Andean Condor in Colca Canyon, Peru"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Colca\nCanyon in southern Peru is a remarkable place. At over 10,000 feet from top to\nbottom it is one of the deepest canyons in the world (almost twice as deep as the\nGrand Canyon). Colca Canyon is as deep as the Pyrenees are tall. We spent a few\ndays enjoying the incredible scenery and visiting some Incan and pre-Incan\nsites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Colca
Patchwork Quilt in Colca Canyon <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We weren\u2019t\nin Colca Canyon for the scenery though. We were there for the vultures. Myself\nand my girlfriend (who was doing research in Peru) had made the trip up from\nArequipa to see some Andean condors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Andean\ncondor has huge cultural important for the peoples of South America. It is the\nnational symbol of Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru! In Incan and\npre-Incan religions the condor was sacred; it represented the sky gods from the\n\u201cupper world\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These\nvultures are massive; they have a wingspan of over 3 meters! Males and females\nmate for life and can live for up to 75 years. The juveniles (up to five or six\nyears) have dark brown feathers that turn black with white patches as they\nmature. The older males also have pretty impressive crests on their skulls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Juvenile
Juvenile Condor <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The classic\nplace to see these birds in Colca Canyon is at ‘Cruz del Condor’. This\nviewpoint, which sticks out into the canyon creating an overhang, is 1200 meters\nabove the valley floor. As a result of the structure of the canyon walls, the\nthermal winds rise up in whirlwinds around Cruz del Condor. Every morning the\ncondors use these thermals to rise up out of the canyon and high into the air\nto begin their search for food. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cruz
Condors above the Canyon<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As we\nlooked down into the dark canyon in shade, we began to see dark shapes soaring past.\nThey would swoop in close to the canyon walls and then disappear for a few\nminutes. Every time they came back around, they would have become a little\ncloser as they gradually rose up in the warming air. Eventually these gigantic\ncondors were eye-to-eye with us. Soon they were just over above heads, casting\nshadows down on us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Condors are\nfound in the Andes mountain range from Argentina all the way up to Columbia. Their\npopulation is a fraction of what it used to be with only 2000 condors left in\nall of Peru. Habitat loss and poisoning (direct and indirect) have been two of\nthe primary drivers behind this decline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Corderla
Corderla Blanca \u2013 perfect habitat for the Condors<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Andean\ncondors play a key ecological role as scavengers. By cleaning up rotting\ncarcasses that most other animals can\u2019t eat they act as keystone species. At\ncertain times of the year the condors leave the Andes and fly down to the\nPacific coast to feed on sea lion carcasses. Thanks to huge conservation\nefforts these magnificent creatures are making a comeback. Hopefully, the sky\ngods will become a more common sight in the Andes in the years to come. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colca Canyon in southern Peru is a remarkable place. At over 10,000 feet from top to bottom it is one of the deepest canyons in the world (almost twice as deep as the Grand Canyon). Colca Canyon is as deep as the Pyrenees are tall. We spent a few days enjoying the incredible scenery and … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,68,1,72],"tags":[46,83,77,84,51],"class_list":["post-2086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ecology","category-photography","category-uncategorized","category-wildlife","tag-mountain","tag-peru","tag-photography","tag-vulture","tag-wildlife"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.jamesorrphoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Adult_Male_Andean_Condor_Cruz_Colca.jpg?fit=1200%2C887&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesorrphoto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesorrphoto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesorrphoto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesorrphoto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesorrphoto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2086"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesorrphoto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2104,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesorrphoto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2086\/revisions\/2104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesorrphoto.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesorrphoto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesorrphoto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamesorrphoto.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}