So I recently read something that impressed me. tI turns out that the Andean Condor, the Largest Bird on earth (I once had one fly right towards me, and all I could think of was a C-5 Galaxy, the largest plane on earth, wait, ‘in the free world’ since the Soviet Union back in the day designed one like 5 meters longer in competition during the old cold war, not so old in Colombia!), is found in greatest numbers within Colombia in none other than the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, I am now guessing up in the cliffs of the high peaks area that a climbing expedition would be inhabiting. These numbers were about 10 years old, in a book I found in a Hotel on the birds of Colombia, but it talked about a few concentrations of the birds, and it was slim pickings for Colombia, but the Sierra had 40 individuals at that Count. The bird seems to be healthier further south in it’s range, but this little pocket of Condors kind of intrigues me when I think of the kind of odd oasis of Andean topography the Sierra is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andean_Condor
http://www.colombiabirding.com/sierranevadastamarta.php
http://www.icesi.edu.co/wiki_aves_colombia/tiki-index.php?page=C%C3%B3ndor%20de%20los%20Andes
It appears that in the Sierra, Condors are seen at their lowest elevations if I am reading this in spanish right. Makes sense since it also might be the northern most point fo their range, so perhaps relatively cooler at lower altitudes, but that’s speculation on my part.