The Story Behind "The Big South"
My short story "The Big South" was inspired by the California condor.
My short story “The Big South” was published in The Coachella Review last month.
This story is special to me. It was inspired by lots of things, but in particular, the plight of the California condor and the work of organizations like the Ventana Wildlife Society to protect these great birds, which became extinct in the wild in 1987. Today, California condors have been reintroduced into the wild but are still listed as critically endangered. They are the only surviving species of the five species of New World vultures in their genus.
I am old enough to remember when California condors became extinct in the wild, when my kids were still small. In 1987, there were only 27 California condors left on earth, 17 in captivity and 10 in the wild. The wild condors were captured to prevent their extinction. California condors have since been gradually reintroduced into the wild. By raising condors in captivity and then releasing them into the wild, closely monitoring and caring for them, and working to resolve the man-made issues that led to their decline in numbers in the first place, the population of California condors is now more than 500. The majority of those are living in the wild. And now, about a dozen California condors are hatched in the wild each year.
“Unlike most other birds, condors mate for life and lay only one egg at a time. Like me. Just the one husband. Just the one child. The condors keep that single, fragile, porcelain blue egg warm in their nest and wait for the hatchling to peck its way out of the shell, and then they feed it and care for it for eighteen months—an entire year and a half—until it learns to fly.
“Parenting for condors is a two-year, all-in proposition. If the single egg is not viable, there are no others. No backup children, unless they’ve double-clutched and laid two eggs, one a spare. Otherwise, the condors must wait and try again in two years …. I’d had only the one chance, too. The one child. There would be no others. I had to get it right the first time.”
—from “The Big South” by Leanne Phillips
My interest in California condors was reignited when I read a newspaper article in the fall of 2021 about two female California condors who each reproduced without mating, through a process called parthinogenesis. This was the first known incidence of parthinogenesis in California condors, and scientists are studying the phenomenon closely. It is unclear whether this was due to a gene mutation or whether this is an evolutionary development to aid in the critically endangered California condors’ survival.
Today, you can follow and support the ongoing California condor recovery efforts of the Ventana Wildlife Society online, learn about and keep up with individual condors living on the Central Coast, join the monthly live Condor Chat, and even watch live camera feeds from the Big Sur Sanctuary, the Big Sur Condor Roost, the San Simeon Sanctuary, and the Redwood Condor Nest. When the Ventana Wilderness Society releases captivity-raised California condors into the wild, near San Simeon, the releases are live-broadcast and are fascinating to watch.
UPDATE 4/22/2026: “The Big South” is from my novel-in-linked-short-stories, California Is an Earthquake, coming fall 2027 from Sibylline Press. This story is the first chapter in the book and is the first chapter in which the characters Lydia and Rae appear. They make cameos in “The Jetty,” first published by Kelp Journal. They appear again in “The Art of Oblivion,” included in The Amber Waves of Autumn, a beach noir anthology. After that, if you want to find out what happens to these characters, you’ll have to wait for the book! :)