You may remember the I was patiently waiting in the blind to observe condor behavior, but had several false alarms with other animals enjoying bites from the goat carcass before the condors could get a chance. Fortunately, I eventually managed to shoo off all the unwanted carnivores from the carcass well before all the condors arrived later that morning (making me feel like a kind of biologist bouncer). After surveying the scene for an hour one bird summoned the courage to be the first to fly down from the trees to the carcass, followed in quick succession by the rest of his compatriots. The goat was greedily gobbled up in a few minutes of squabbling, hissing, pecking frenzy (see photo).

Whilst contemplating the remaining skin and bones, I also pondered the dilemma of how to provide regular meals to the condors without all the meat going to the other carnivores in the region. Later that day I consulted with Juan Vargas, one of the Mexican field managers for the condor reintroduction site in Baja. Juan decided to place the following morning’s carcass at a different location so that the widely ranging and sharp-eyed condors would hopefully find it before any other animal. Unfortunately, the next day we peered through our binoculars at said carcass being devoured by another two coyotes (who seemed to be quite pleased with themselves). Frustrated, we spent the remainder of the day locating a suitable rocky outcrop upon which to design and build a new, more secure condor “restaurant”.

We found a good-sized (16 ft. long by 26 ft. deep by 15 ft. high), flat-topped granite projection close to the condor release pen on the western cliffs of Punta San Pedro. The outcrop has steep sloping sides to prevent any four-legged creature from climbing up and getting into the carcass before the condors. To be doubly sure, we strung an electric fence around the sides to give a rude shock to anything that tried.

Since this new condor-feeding site with improved security has been built, not a single carcass placed on it has disappeared down the gullet of anything but a California condor! Such is the nature of the condor reintroduction program. It demands that managers and researchers continuously find creative solutions to new and unforeseeable challenges and issues.

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