Earth & Sky

Our thanks to:

Mr. Greg Austin
Wildlife Biologist
USFWS, Division of Refuges and Wildlife
Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge
Ventura, CA

Mr. Bill Heinrich
Species Restoration Manager
Peregrine Fund
World Center for Birds of Prey
Boise, Idaho

Kelly Sorenson
Ventana Wilderness Society

Further Reading:

Shuit, Douglas P. “Matriarch of Condor Program to be freed.” Los Angeles Times, March 29, 2000, Page B3.

Associated Press. “Despite Success, Condor’s Fate Remains Unclear.” New York Times, August 22, 2000, Page F3.

Terri Likens. “Biologists’ hopes high for condors: Some of the birds near sexual maturity.” The Arizona Republic, August 27, 2000, page B4.

The Peregrine Fund’s World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise Idaho does captive rearing of condors and staffer Bill Heinrich oversees the Arizona condor reintroduction program. This site gives an overview.

The Los Angeles Zoo condor conservation page

Web site for Los Padres National Forest

Author’s notes:

QUICK CONDOR COUNTS (as of Nov. 14 2000:

Captive birds: 31 at the Los Angeles Zoo, 38 at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, and 47 at the Peregrine Fund’s World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho. Total: 116 captive birds.

Wild birds: 16 in Arizona, at the Vermillion Cliffs near Grand Canyon National Park, 11 in Los Padres, 14 in Ventana; total 35 wild birds. Although the Los Padres and Ventana birds are 150 miles apart, trackers say birds from the two groups move back and forth between the two sites on a dailythey are turning into “one big population”.

Note: A few additional birds in the wild are missing and unaccounted for.

Total condor population is about 160; hard to get an exact count because of the missing birds. The goal is a self-sustaining population of 300 wild birds.

Robert Mesta, a biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, told the Los Angeles Times the condor recovery program has reached a critical point. He said, “They’re moving back into their historical range, finding food on their own and exhibiting some mating behavior.”

Scientists credit new chick rearing and release strategies for the surprisingly strong comeback made by the California Condor. The giant carrion-feeders are expanding their numbers and their range beyond the Ventura County captive breeding program where the efforts to save them was launched. A record 20 chicks were hatched in the year 2000 at captive breeding sites in Los Angeles, San Diego and Boise, Idaho.

CONDORS GO A-COURTING: In addition to the counts above, 8 more condors are in captivity as of Nov. 14 but will soon be released in Arizona. The important news is that among these 8 birds are two pairs of adult birds – birds that have already formed pair bonds in captivity. These birds have even laid eggs in captivity, although the eggs have been infertile (that’s normal even for wild condors. A female’s first few eggs are often infertile.

Experts hope that by releasing these pair-bonded birds, they’ll see condors breeding in the wild sometime in the next two to three years. (Condor breeding season starts in November, eggs hatch after 60 days of incubation; chicks stay in the nest for 6 months; it would be “overly optimistic” to expect the released birds to breed this year, but they might have success next year.)

More good news is that in addition to the pairs about to be released, some of the birds that are already in the wild have been observed performing courtship displays as well (in Arizona and in Los Padres National Forest). What a courtship display looks like: The male goes up to the female and spreads his wings and droops his head, then turns in circles in front of her.

It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for the birds with the nine-foot wingspan. Last summer, Grand Canyon condors went BACK into captivity temporarily to be treated for lead poisoning. These birds are scavengers, and they accidentally swallowed bullet fragments that were lodged in an abandoned carcass. Most of the birds recovered and were returned to the wild.

LEAD is DEADLY: The American explorers Merriwether Lewis and William Clark sighted a California condor in 1805, during their transcontinental search for the northwest passage. The bird was feeding on dead salmon along the Columbia River, in what is now the state of Washington. One of the explorers shot at the birdand missed.

Scientists say one reason condors have declined in the centuries since Europeans first settled North America is that people have shot so many, sometimes, just for sport, and sometimes because the birds were perceived as a threat to livestock (they’re not).

Today, people with guns are still a threat to these rare birds. The problem isn’t only gunners who shoot this protected species illegally. An equally grave threat to the condors is hunters who shoot OTHER animals – large game, such as deer, elk, or wild pigs. If a hunter merely wounds the animal and is unable to track it, and it dies in the wilderness, the carcass may become a meal for a condor. The birds prefer to feed on large game animals. Often, a bullet will hit a bone and splinter. Lead is highly toxic, and even a tiny fragment of a bullet, when swallowed, is enough to kill a condor.

In Arizona, says Bill Heinrich of the Peregrine Fund (a nonprofit research group working to restore the populations of condors and several raptor species), the condors that were brought in from the wild this summer to be treated for lead poisoning had ALL been feeding on a single carcass that was riddled with lead shot. It seems someone had been using the carcass for target practice.

Solutions: The Arizona team is developing a public education and outreach program. Also, ammunition made of a nontoxic alloy (a mixture of tungsten, tin, and bismuth) is being developed. Ballistically it’s the same as lead. Hunters say they would use it. But it’s not commercially available yet, and when it does come on the market (possibly next year), it will be more expensive.

According to a National Park Service press release (Sept. 2000):

“Sixteen California condors will be re-released this week following treatment for lead poisoning. This past April and May, five condors died from ingesting lead shot and fragments of various sizes after feeding on carrion in the vicinity of the [Grand Canyon National Park]. When the birds began showing signs of poisoning, capture efforts were undertaken by the park in order to conduct blood analyses and begin treatment. Each of the condors had nearly lethal doses of lead in its system and had suffered from extreme weight loss. An interagency meeting was held with FWS, BLM, the Navajo Nation, the Peregrine Fund and the state wildlife agency to come up with a strategy for re-release and investigation into the poisoning. The investigation included aerial detection of carcasses (organized by park pilot Mike Ebersol), land observations, and inspections of carcasses within the park and on adjacent land management areas. The park is also working closely with the local power company to “raptor proof” power lines within the park (for further information on this process, contact the park). The condors have regained their former weight levels; blood analyses show that lead levels are now low. Park biologists will be working closely with FWS and the Peregrine Fund to monitor the birds’ activities and feeding locations. Although this has been a slight setback for the recovery program, the re-release of 16 healthy birds provides hope and encouragement that California condors will remain a permanent fixture in the skies over the Colorado Plateau. [Elaine Leslie, Wildlife Technician, GRCA]”

POWER POLE PROBLEMS AND OTHER PERILS: In the early years of the release program, five condors were electrocuted after landing on electric power poles. Now, before any bird is released to the wild, it goes through special “power pole aversion training.” A replica pole is placed in the birds’ flight cage. Birds that land on the pole get a mild shock. They quickly learn to avoid the poles. Since this training program was instituted, no released condors have been electrocuted.

A few young condors have been killed by golden eagles. Other birds drowned when they tried to get a drink at a steep-sided, abandoned quarry that had filled with water. Scientists think they jumped into the water and couldn’t touch bottom to push off.

BACK TO CAPTIVE BREEDING? This past August, Dr. Vicky Meretsky of Indiana University published an article in the respected journal Conservation Biology charging that the condor program has been a failure: that mortality among released birds has been too high (35 of the 104 birds released have died); that the risk of ingesting lead is an insurmountable problem; that the captive birds which have been reared by humans wearing condor puppets (rather than by their actual parents) are too unafraid of humans when released in the wild; that it’s only a matter of time before a bird harms a human (one tore its way into a tent at a campground); and that all the free-liying birds should be brought back into captivity.

The scientists interviewed for this program objected strongly to the idea of returning condors to captivity, especially when evidence suggests they are on the brink of breeding on their own in the wild. They say they don’t see much of a difference in behavior between puppet-reared birds and birds reared by condor parentsand that puppet-rearing is key to rebuilding the population quickly. There just aren’t enough actual parents to rear a large number of chicks each year (Each pair of parents can rear a single chick once every two years; with double clutching and puppet rearing, the number of eggs that could be hatched and chicks reared is greatly increased.) Scientists point to a similar captive-breeding and reintroduction program for a related rare bird, the Andean condor. Young birds released to the wild had similar behavior problems at first but started acting more like wild-born birds once they reached sexual maturity.