Condor 336 hatched at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park in April 2004. She was released at Pinnacles National Monument three years ago. On Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008 biologists with the Ventana Wildlife Society were monitoring the condors in Big Sur, California. Immediately they knew something was wrong with No. 336. Over the course of three days they attempted to catch the bird to perform a health evaluation. On Sept. 5, in cooperation with the National Parks Service, a Ventana biologist caught the condor. She was rushed for veterinary care in Monterey and later transported to the Los Angeles Zoo where veterinarians have successfully treated condors for lead poisoning.

A few days later condor 336 died. The bird had already been underweight by the time she was caught. Her health had been compromised badly and she was not able to recover despite the heroic efforts of the biologists and veterinarians. Her death is not a loss for the California Condor Recovery Program. It is a loss for Californians and for North America.

The California condor is North America’s largest bird. This species was found from British Columbia to Baja California, Mexico when pioneers arrived on our shores. The birds began to loose ground quickly. The population dwindled to approximately 20 birds in the 1980s, but thanks to the efforts of conservationists and biologists the number has increased to more than 300 birds today. For this reason the loss of one bird hurts the efforts of this species’ recovery, but it should also affect us. We’ve made every effort to recover the California condor so let’s protect it and help reduce problems like lead poisoning from our environment.

To learn more about how lead poisoning affects the condor, click here.

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We stopped periodically along the mountainsides looking for what was turning out to be a very elusive bird—the California condor. We saw small animals and a variety of small birds throughout, an indicator that some life survived the fire, or perhaps that life was slowly returning to normal. We encountered animal tracks. It appeared that a wild pig had recently been through the area, with what looked like a mountain lion following it. I guess we were not the only ones on the chase.

Upon arriving at the Ventana Wildlife Society’s condor base camp, we were awestruck. The fire’s rage and its discrimination in what did and did not remain standing was unmistakable. The staff cabin was left standing, although some windows cracked with the intensity of the heat. The ground was burned literally a few feet from the cabin, but a few storage units were reduced to piles of melted metal, forming eclectic artwork. A mosquito tent used to enjoy lunch outdoors stood vigilant. I assumed that it was new and had been placed there after the fire, but I was wrong.

In fact, Ventana Wildlife Society staff members and guests had been having lunch in that very spot the day the fire began. Kelly Sorenson, executive director for the society, said the day began with beautiful clear skies. Without warning, lightning began to strike the ground, far too close for comfort. The group packed up and decided to head out of the mountains for safety, and it turned out to be a lifesaving move. Hear it in Kelly’s own words by clicking here.

After listening to the story of how the condors in the nearby holding pens were rescued, we began a descent out of the mountains, hoping to find the now irritatingly elusive condors. Time and time again we spotted turkey vultures, and I was giving up hope. On one patch of scenic mountainside, I could see the ocean. I was admiring the view when I saw two large black birds. I figured they were turkey vultures, but I pointed them out to the others just in case. I was right. But since we had stopped, we got off the cars to look around. And there below us were four California condors flying near the coastline. Yes!

I have seen California condors flying in Baja California, Mexico, but this was beyond words. You could see the birds using thermals to get higher and higher. “They’re coming to see us,” said Kelly. “They’re going to come check us out.” Sure enough, they did. They flew over our heads time and time again, then continued higher up the mountains before they disappeared. It was magnificent. It was truly an amazing scene—North America’s largest flying bird with the most spectacular backdrops of pines, redwoods, and the glistening Pacific coast. It was 3 p.m. on day two before we finally saw the birds, but even if we didn’t see another condor, it was enough. The image will be forever with me.

Luckily, however, it wasn’t our only chance. When we arrived on Highway 1, we spotted more condors perched in a pine tree on a cliff over the ocean. It was 5 p.m. at this point, and they were getting ready to settle in for the day. But before they did, the birds began to fly from one tree to another, giving us the opportunity to capture a few more images of these large birds in flight.

As we stood there with our cameras and binoculars in hand, other cars pulled off the road and people asked us, did you find a condor? It was amazing that people from Italy, South America, and Holland stopped and knew exactly what we were doing. They knew of the plight of the California condor and they wanted to see this endangered species for themselves. With only 150 condors in the wild, seeing this bird flying is a unique experience not shared by the rest of the world. I feel very lucky to be part of this great conservation story and even luckier to have seen this bird fly in my own backyard.

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We arrived in Monterey on Tuesday, and after lunch we headed south on the picturesque Cabrillo Highway to Big Sur. I saw billows of white clouds cascading over the ocean like waves, while sea birds dove into the blue ocean water. The breeze was cool and refreshing. We were excited. It would be the first time I would see California condors free-flying in, get this–California! I’ve had the pleasure of seeing this majestic bird flying in Baja California, Mexico, on a number of occasions, but not in my own backyard! Shea, the videographer, had never seen condors free-flying; today I expected would be her first.

As we went further down the coastline, I spotted only brown pelicans, sea gulls, cormorants and a variety of other birds, but no condors yet. There are only about 40 condors in this vast wilderness, and there are many beautiful spots for the birds to perch—from redwoods to pines, mountains to cliffs overlooking the beaches. It was something I was happy to be doing myself, except I was taking it all in from the comfort of a moving 4×4. Knowing that there are plenty of choices for the birds, I didn’t expect to find them right away, but in our arsenal we had the locations of a few favorite spots for the condors.

As we continued our drive, we spotted a large black bird in the distance. Could it be? Get the binoculars! Darn. It was the one bird most often confused with a California condor, the turkey vulture. As we meandered past the scenic highway, the fire’s damage became apparent. Hillsides were charred and trees were dry and black. A group of large birds was perched on a pine tree. Condors are gregarious and are usually found in groups, so this is a good sign. Sigh. Again, we found them to be turkey vultures—or TVs as I affectionately began to call them. Time and time again we spotted TVs.

From a distance, when you see a TV in flight you have to look again before you recognize its familiar shape. The TV has a slight bend in its wings, while the condors wings are much straighter. If you’re close enough to see the white underneath the wing it’s a dead giveaway. The TV has white wing tips, it looks like it’s wearing gloves. The condor has a white triangle and its feather tips are black.

The disappointment was evident. Now when we saw a black bird we were certain it was a TV, and perhaps it became a self-fulfilling prophecy because each black vulture we saw had a small wingspan of six feet—turkey vulture—and not the nine-foot wingspan of the condor. We found ourselves leaving empty handed that day. We had beautiful images of a waterfall that drained onto a beach with waters as blue as the Caribbean. It was a perfect sunning spot, but even after visiting the condor’s “favorite” hangout spots, we saw none. We stopped in several spots. We did what you’re supposed to do, hang out patiently and look carefully in the trees. But alas, Shea would go another day without seeing a free-flying California condor. Sorry, Shea. Michael sighed and said he has never gone out in search of condors and returned home without seeing them. We are not going home yet, so we still have tomorrow, Michael. We still have tomorrow.

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It is also extraordinary that the wild chicks and their parents have done so well. For more details, click here want to thank all of you who have made a donation to the Condor Emergency Fund already. Together, we will rebuild the Condor Sanctuary so that we can restore the California Condor to the wild and enable this wonderful species to be removed from the endangered species list.

Please help us tell the story by sharing this email with others or post to web and blog sites and encourage them to sign up for our email alerts and if they want to help they can make a donation also. Signing up for the email alert is free as you know and can be done by clicking here. It is a great way to get involved and hear directly from our biologists who are in turn directly working in the field. In the months ahead we will continue to tell the story as we rebuild the Condor Sanctuary.

Sincerely,

Kelly Sorenson
Executive Director

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Ventana Wildlife Society is the only not-for-profit organization releasing and managing condors in the wild in California. Your help is urgently needed at this time to help us overcome the setback of the fire and continue the momentum of restoring condors to their natural habitat.

As of today, our biologists have been able to track the radio signals from all but one of the 43 free-flying adult condors that VWS has surviving in the central California region. As for the newly hatched chicks, one of three wild nests was in a burned area, although we don’t yet know the fate of the chick inside. Two other nests were very near the fire but the chicks inside survived. On July 8, we were finally able to review the damages and determine that we lost all of the field pens in Big Sur for releasing the young condors along with important equipment.

Please consider making a generous gift to the Condor Emergency Fund at VWS. With your partnership, we can replace our lost equipment and supplies and support our biologists and loyal volunteers at this challenging time. In the months ahead, we will rebuild the condor release program as well as protect and maintain the health and safety of the wild flock in Big Sur. You can help us now by going to www.ventanaws.org or calling toll-free 877-897-7740 and pledging your support.

As a member, you will receive continued updates on the progress the California condors as well as our other projects to protect and restore wildlife and their habitats. It is thanks to the past generosity of our supporters and to partnerships with other dedicated organizations that visitors from all over the world now see wild condors soaring above the mountains of Big Sur. Our vision is to see this flock grow and prosper so it becomes permanent and self-sustaining – and no longer endangered.

Kelly Sorenson, Executive Director

Ventana Wildlife Society

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Consequently, the wind conditions within a condor’s habitat are likely one of the principle determinants of condor foraging ability, which is why condor introduction programs have been sited in mountainous regions with strong updrafts. Enhanced understanding of the meteorological conditions that determine the flying ability and foraging success of condors is vital to tailoring reintroduction programs to the bird’s habitat needs. No formal analysis of the characteristics of the winds that shape condor movements has yet been conducted.

We recently installed the first of an array of remote weatherstations that will be placed throughout the expanding ranges of the condors that are being reintroduced to Baja California, Mexico. The units include an anemometer to measure wind speed and direction and a thermometer to measure air temperature. The weather data is stored in a data recorder and can be downloaded at the end of the recording period (limited to about six months of memory capacity) using a handheld shuttle. Rather than choosing arbitrary locations, the sites where the weatherstation are to be installed were selected by overlaying the home ranges of 14 birds that were GPS-tracked for three years. This way the climate data we record will be taken from habitats that have actually been used intensively by the birds themselves. The big challenge to our team is that the weatherstation sites are in very remote and inaccessible areas, which presents considerable logistic difficulties for equipment installation and data acquisition.

The site for the installation of our first weatherstation was only half a mile from the Baja base camp, which certainly made it easy for us to carry the units and all of the equipment needed to set them up. Once at the site we selected a suitable tree on which to mount the weather sensors. The stations must be installed well off the ground to sample the strongest wind flows while minimizing ground-based turbulence and interference. We also need the units to be high enough to deter interference by curious animals (and curious people!). We needed climbing ropes and harnesses to bolt the unit 33 feet (10 meters) off the ground onto the main trunk of the tree. This was not an easy task, and was complicated by the fact that each unit must also be precisely calibrated to compass directions, often while the units were recording wind velocities of more than 33 feet (10 meters) per second.

The second weatherstation was placed at Venado Blanco, at the crest of a steep ridge overlooking a series of valleys back toward the condor campsite, which was about three miles to the southwest. The reintroduced condors have been tracked coming to this site many times over the past three years, and during our journey to the site we encountered a herd of deer and noticed the hoof prints of cattle and scats from various animals – the kinds of things that attract inquisitive and hungry condors. Getting to the Venado Blanco site required some serious off-roading and a hike with the weatherstations and their installation equipment across steep chaparral covered slopes.

The site itself was a picturesque study in contrasts, with colorful desert flowers in bloom beneath blackened pine trees that had been scarred by numerous lightening strikes and wildfires. The frequent storm activity in the area is of particular concern, since a high voltage blast of static electricity could have some serious negative consequences for one of our little weatherstations! To reduce the possibility of lightening strike we grounded our units to a long copper rod that we hammered into the ground. Needless to say, trying to find sufficient earth in which to hammer a six-foot rod into in a rocky granite peak also presented a physical challenge.

The remaining weatherstations are soon to be installed across the remote eastern canyons of the Baja reintroduction site that face the open deserts towards the Gulf of California. This network of canyons includes Picacho Del Diablo, which is the steepest peak in Baja. The sheer difficulty of reaching these sites necessitates the incorporation of a remote data uplink system into the weatherstations, to beam the climate data directly to us via a satellite modem. Once installed, we will be able to access the weather information provided by the units via the Internet. By matching the wind conditions and air temperatures with the movement patterns of the ranging condors we will be able to build an extensive and accurate picture of the environmental factors that shape condor habitat use and foraging success. This is another example of how cutting-edge technology can contribute highly valuable information to enhance management programs designed to conserve threatened species.

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Nest guarding means that we have chosen to take an active and direct role in increasing chances of successfully fledging chicks from wild nests. This effort increases the number of wild fledged condors in the population and increases chances of future nests’ success by the breeding pairs. These wild fledge chicks tend to integrate into the wild population quicker than their counterparts raised at the breeding centers, due to being led by their parents from their natal areas and guided out to forage sites. Entering nest sites to prevent failures also allows us to collect important information about why and how nest failure has taken place in the past. This information will be crucial to discovering long-term solutions to the breakdown in nesting attempts and further aid in recovery of the species in the wild.

The first two interventions needed have been in the form of egg transplants. An egg transplant is the process by which an unhealthy or infertile egg is removed from the nest and replaced with a model or dummy egg. This dummy egg keeps the pair attentive to the nest until a healthy egg from one of the breeding centers begins to hatch. This hatching egg is quickly swapped out with the model egg. The pair then becomes the foster parents of a new chick, which usually finishes hatching in a day or two. Allowing the pairs to continue in their nesting attempt increases chances of success in future years because they can continue to gain experience in chick rearing behaviors and strengthen the bond they share as parents.

The first egg transplant occurred at the nest of condors 79 and 247. Having performed a fertility check on this first-time pair we were hopeful that this pair’s egg would hatch on its own, but this was not the case. After observers failed to see it hatch beyond its due date, a nest entry team was sent in to take a closer look. This team consisted of Mike Clark, a Los Angeles Zoo condor handler and I.

During the hatching process, the chick can sometimes become incapable of freeing itself from the confines of its shell and the condor parents assist in this process. If this was the case on this entry we could also assist in the process, unfortunately when we arrived at the nest we found that the egg’s development was interrupted before it came close to hatching. This can occur for a number of reasons and our best chance of determining why would be to collect the egg and take a closer look by sending the egg to the San Diego Zoo’s Pathology Lab.

We left a dummy egg for condor No. 79, who took to it like it was her own (see video below). I returned the following day with an egg from the Los Angeles Zoo that was beginning to hatch. On March 28, a day and a half after completing the transplant the first wild chick of the season was hatched and the parents are dutifully caring for the young condor.

Condors 107 and 161 chose a difficult nest to observe this season. The cavity is very dark and when the birds enter it they disappear from view. The egg is never visible so an entry was necessary in order to determine hatch. After a few days past the hatch date we entered the nest to check. While we anticipated finding a chick, unfortunately the egg had also failed to hatch. We contacted our partners at the breeding facilities to locate the next available egg that would be ready to hatch to place into this nest site. It took transporting an egg all the way from the Peregrine Fund’s World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise Idaho.

This egg was due to hatch 20 days beyond the pair’s original egg’s hatch date. Incubating condors will usually tend their nest beyond the normal period of 57 days that it takes a condor egg to hatch but their behavior can become less and less predictable as time passes. There was a risk the pair would lose interest and abandon the dummy egg so nest observers closely tracked the behavior of the pair to determine whether they were showing any signs of abandonment.

The route to this nest site is one of the most challenging to access especially when having to take extra care in transporting a hatching egg. Condor country is some of the most difficult terrain to travel through on foot. The steep canyons scattered with poison oak often require ropes to bypass, and the thick vegetation can force you to a crawl for hundreds of meters through thick chaparral and shrub lands. Dropping many hundreds of feet in elevation down one side of a canyon and climbing up the other side to position ourselves above the nest was a difficult endeavor. Luckily, the nest was a short 20 foot rappel down a 200 foot cliff.

The nest cavity is one of the largest I’ve ever seen. It is close to 20 feet at it deepest and 15 feet at it’s widest. There are spots that I was able to stand up completely straight inside the nest cave. It is no wonder we could not see the egg as it was far back inside the cavity. The female perches in a nearby tree closely watching me as I disappear into her cavity. As I swap eggs the chick noisily makes its presence known:

Condor 161, hearing the chick inside the egg, enters the nest and is interested in the noisy egg. She watches me closely as I ascend back to the top of the nest cliff. Once there, I take cover out of sight until the nest observer radios to tell me she has disappeared into the cavity. She does so after about 20 minutes of standing at the cavity entrance probably trying to determine if I plan on returning. While I am waiting I can still hear the hatching chick from time to time calling for her attention. When it is clear that I am no longer a threat she disappears into the darkness of the cavity and tends to her nest for the next three hours straight.

It will take the chick about two more days to completely hatch from the egg. Condor 161 tends to the nest for the rest of the day and through the night. The following day, her mate, condor 107, returns from a foraging trip and exchanges with condor 161. We will probably not see the chick until its 30-day checkup but the pair’s feeding behavior and continual attendance is a sure sign of a successful hatch and our second wild chick of the season.

Program Wide Support…

The Los Angeles Zoo and the Peregrine Fund helped save these wild nests from failure by supplying hatching eggs to put into wild nest sites, but any of the breeding programs (San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park and/or Oregon Zoo) would have given their support. Normally these eggs would have hatched at these centers and gone on to become condors that we could one day release. Instead these chicks will fledge as if they were wild chicks with parents that will care for them and teach them the skills needed for survival in the wild. The incredible teamwork by recovery program staff and the contributions of countless volunteers’ hours has brought us two chicks closer to another successful breeding season and another step towards recovery of this magnificent species.

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More Nests…

Through the winter months searching for wild condor nest sites yielded one new nest in February, two in March, as well as a surprise nest in April. After a hectic few months Southern California now has five active condor nest sites!

Our population’s most dominant male, condor No. 107 and his mate, Ventana’s condor 161, have committed to their fourth nesting attempt. The pair successfully fledged a chick in 2004, tragically lost a chick at the nest in 2006 and in 2007 they fledged a chick that died shortly after a devastating wildfire passed through the region. We have high hopes that this pair will fledge their chick once again this season.

The first wild egg laid in March was by condor No. 289. This nest took some effort to find in the remote canyons of the Sespe Condor Sanctuary, a large tract of wilderness set aside by the U.S. Forest Service to protect condor-nesting habitat. No. 289, the youngest condor of breeding age this season, has chosen one of our populations oldest males, condor 98. She will be his fourth mate since his first nesting attempt in 2002 and we hope they will prove to be a successful pairing.

The next breeding pair of the season is a 7-year-old male, condor 237, and an 8-year-old female, No. 214. They were the foster parents of the 2006 fledgling, No. 412, the second chick to fledge from a wild nest in California. Condor 412’s success was a result of a change in nest management strategies to enhance nest success in the wild and has resulted in the development of the nest-guarding program.

The fifth nest of the season came as bit of a surprise nearly a month later. Condors 111 & 125, which successfully fledged No. 450 in 2007, were still actively caring for this young bird. Quite suddenly, they were no longer being observed with condor 450. She had only recently left her parents’ nesting territory. To our great surprise, we discovered 111 in a cavity incubating a newly laid egg. While it is uncommon for condors to nest in consecutive years it has been known to occur in the wild. We eventually located condor 450 at a supplemental feeding site 45 miles away from her natal area in Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge interacting with other juveniles within the population. This is a benchmark towards her independence as she will begin to fend for herself at roosting and feeding sites with the many juveniles condors that frequent this refuge.

It is a time reminiscent of the period of pre-in house managed care program, with a total of seven active nests in California. Of the seven nests sites, five are in Southern California and two are located along the central California coast.

Stay tuned for Part II when Joseph enters a nest with an egg.

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