#california condors

[runawaycarouselhorse]

garden-variety-snail: #I saw one of the captive pairs in Pittsburgh#the first year I went the couple had just lost a chick & was having trouble producing another#the keepers told me the female bird had been depressed#and she was staying very still in the back of her enclosure#the next year I went they had successfully hatched a chick#I watched the mother bird gamboling around her enclosure and stealing sticks from gardeners#she seemed so happy#I love these birds so much

;___;

On April 19th, 1987, a bird known as Adult Condor 9 was captured in the Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge, near Bakersfield, California. After decades ravaged by the threats of lead-poisoning and pesticide exposure, and intense debate over the ethics of captivity, it had been determined that captive breeding was the final hope to save a species. As his designation might suggest, AC-9 was the nine condor to be captured for the new program; he was also the last.

As the biology team transported the seven-year-old male to the safety of the San Diego Wild America Park, his species, the California Condor, North America's largest bird, became extinct in its native range. It was Easter Sunday—a fitting day for the start of a resurrection.

At the time of AC-9's capture, the total world population of California condors constituted just twenty-seven birds. The majority of them represented ongoing conservation attempts: immature birds, taken from the wild as nestlings and eggs to be captive-reared in safety, with the intention of re-release into the wild. Now, efforts turned fully towards the hope of captive breeding.

Captive breeding is never a sure-fire bet, especially for sensitive, slow-reproducing species like the condor. Animals can and do go extinct even when all individuals are successfully shielded from peril and provided with ideal breeding conditions. Persistence in captivity is not the solution to habitat destruction and extirpation—but it can buy valuable time for a species that needs it.

Thankfully, for the California condor, it paid off.

The birds defied expectations, with an egg successfully hatched at the San Diego Zoo the very next year. Unlike many other birds of prey, which may produce clutches of up to 5 hatchlings, the California condor raises a single chick per breeding season, providing care for the first full year of its life, and, as a consequence, often not nesting at all in the year following the birth of a chick. This, combined with the bird's slow maturation (taking six to eight years to start breeding), presented a significant challenge. However, biologists were able to exploit another quirk of the bird's breeding cycle: its ability to double-clutch.

Raising a single offspring per year is a massive risk in a world full of threats, and the California condor's biology has provided it with a back-up plan: in years when a chick or egg has been lost, condors will often re-nest with a second egg. To take advantage of this tendency, eggs were selectively removed from birds in the captive breeding program, which would then lay a replacement, greatly increasing their reproduction rate.

And what of the eggs that were taken? The tendency of hatchlings to imprint is well-known, and the intention from the very beginning was for the birds to one day return to the wild—an impossibility for animals acclimated to humans. And so, puppets were made in the realistic likeness of adult condors, and used by members of the conservation team to feed and nurture the young birds, mitigating the risk of imprintation on the wrong species.

By 1992, the captive population had more than doubled, to 64 birds. That year, after an absence of five years, the first two captive-bred condors were released into their ancestral home. Many other releases followed, including the return of AC-9 himself in 2002. Thanks to the efforts of zoos and conservationists, as of 2024 there are 561 living California condors, over half of which fly free in the wilds of the American West.

The fight to save the California condor is far from over. The species is still listed as critically endangered. Lead poisoning (from ingesting shot/bullets from abandoned carcasses) remains the primary source of mortality for the species, with tagged birds tested and treated whenever possible. Baby condors are fed bone chips by their parents, likely as a calcium supplement—but, to a condor, bits of bone and bits of plastic can be indistinguishable, and dead nestlings have been found with stomachs full of trash.

There's hope, though. There are things we can change, things we can counteract and stop from happening in the future. It was a human hand that created this problem, and it will take a human hand to fix it. Hope is only gone when the last animal breathes its last breath—and the California condor is still here.

-

This painting is titled Puppet Rearing (California Condor), and is part of my series Conservation Pieces, which focuses on the efforts and techniques used to save critically endangered birds from extinction. It is traditional gouache, on 22x30" paper.

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

People never seem to want to hang out at animal habitats. If they can’t see something immediately, they just leave. If you’re patient enough to stay, sometimes incredibly magical experiences happen. Like this one.

Those are California condors. Biggest wingspan in North America, incredibly endangered, and the only species with approval from USDA for emergency use of the poultry avian flu vaccine.

Towards the end of the day, once things got quiet, I sat down near where one was foraging and just hung out. Then… they noticed me.

I can only upload one video so I’m going with the one where I was showing them my glasses, since they kept trying to peck at my shoelaces and fingers and I wondered what else they'd be interested in.

They stayed there with me for at least five minutes, given the duration of video I took. Just chilling, watching me, interacting a little. It was just us - nobody else approached. Until eventually they chose to go do their own thing, and I sat there in awe for a while.

It’s worth it to wait, when you can.

[dropkickslurpee]

Yeehawgust day 24: view from the canyon rim

the grand canyon is very special to me and so are condors. really enjoyed practicing painting-style stuff some more on this scene.

[spinus-pinus]

California Condor Gymnogyps californianus

7/2/2018 Los Angeles County, California

Chris Trent via iNaturalist, CC-BY-NC

[antiqueanimals]

California condor. Last Chance on Earth; a Requiem for Wildlife. Roger A. Caras. Illustrated by Charles Fracé. 1966.

Internet Archive

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Apparently , the California condor lice went extinct after people removed the lice in the effort to save the condors. (Some people thought the condors are extinct- they're not, it's the lice.)

[rebeccathenaturalist]

California agencies working to protect critically endangered condors are on high alert after 20 recent deaths in northern Arizona, wildlife officials said last week.

A highly pathogenic avian influenza that has infected domestic and wild birds across the country has been confirmed as the cause of death for California condors in in the Arizona-Utah flock. By April 17, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported 20 condors had died. So far, tests confirmed 10 of those birds were positive for the avian flu.

The virus had not been detected in condor populations in Ventura County or other parts of California and Baja as of late this week. But agencies monitoring those flocks were preparing emergency actions in case that changes, said Ashleigh Blackford, the federal agency’s California condor coordinator.

“Our concern is definitely heightened in California,” Blackford said.

More populations, more protection

Agencies have worked for decades to help the species recover. The largest flying land bird in North America — known for its bald head and black feathers — had all but disappeared in the wild by the early 1980s. 

The population dropped to just 22 birds in the wild in 1982. Five years later, all remaining wild condors were placed in a captive breeding program to save the species from extinction.

By the end of last year, 347 condors lived in the wild – 183 in California and 116 in the Arizona-Utah region. 

Supporting separate populations in different areas was part of the plan to help the species overcome any single event such as a virus outbreak or wildfire. The more populations and the more birds increases the odds of survival, Blackford said.

The condors also continue to rely on captive-bred birds being released into the wild.

Virus can be fatal

The avian influenza can spread quickly and appears to be almost 100% fatal for some species. But scientists didn’t know until the recent outbreak how infected condors would fare.

“Now, we know that answer, and it is an unfortunate answer," Blackford said.

But some condors do appear to be recovering. Eight sick condors were captured in Arizona and brought to a facility for treatment. Of those, four died and four others are still receiving care and showing signs of improvement, wildlife officials said.

A setback for Arizona flock

The 20 recent deaths account for around 17% of the Arizona-Utah flock. That's four times the number of deaths in the region last year.

"That’s a substantial setback for this flock," Blackford said. "But it is not insurmountable."

In all of last year, the agency reported 20 condor deaths, most of them in California. Lead poisoning is consistently the leading the cause of death and continues to be the biggest concern for agencies working to protect the species.

The birds feed on carcasses containing bullet fragments, so trying to get folks to use other types of ammunition continues to be a priority, wildlife officials said. Lead poisoning not only can be fatal but also can suppress the immune system, increasing the condors risk from other illnesses.

"If we were not losing birds to lead, then our population would be stronger," Blackford said. "It would be more robust, and we would have healthier birds."

How to help

While the risk to the public's health is low, officials said human infections can happen and the general public should avoid handling wild birds. State and federal agencies recommended the following tips.

Report dead birds using the state's mortality reporting system to help officials monitor the outbreak at wildlife.ca.gov/Living-with-Wildlife.

If you see condors, observe from a distance. Stress can be harmful to birds exhibiting symptoms of illness.

Keep your family, including pets, a safe distance away from wildlife. Do not feed, handle or approach sick or dead animals or their droppings.

Prevent contact of domestic or captive birds with wild birds. 

Find more information about the avian influenza: cdfa.ca.gov/ahfss/Animal_Health/Avian_Influenza.html, aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/animalhealth/animal-disease-information.

[checkered-tailed-maverick]

I wanna know some bird facts, don’t listen to lex, she can be like that sometimes

Okay so I'm just gonna use this as an opportunity to infodump about this bird I just found out about

This is a California Condor. They are the largest wild birds in North America, with a wingspan of about 9.8 ft (3 metres), and they can weigh up to 12 kg (26 lbs). They have a lifespan of around 60 years, which makes it one of the longest living birds.

I like them because I think they look freaky as hell

But they're wings are very cool to look at and so fucking strong.

Unfortunately due to poaching, habitat destruction, and agricultural chemicals, they basically went fucking extinct in the wild in the 20th century. The US government put a conservation plan in place to capture all the wild condors that survived in 1987, and there was only 27 individual birds. Through captive breeding and then reintroducing them into the wild, their population has increased thankfully, but the California condor is still one of the world's rarest bird species

But still, very very cool guys love them very much

[follow-up-news]

A record 17 California condor chicks hatched at the Los Angeles Zoo during this year’s breeding season for the endangered birds, officials announced Wednesday. All the chicks will be candidates for release into the wild as part of the California Condor Recovery Program, the LA Zoo said in a statement. The 17th and final bird of the season hatched in June and is thriving, zookeepers said. The previous record was set in 1997, when 15 California condor chicks hatched at the zoo. “Our condor team has raised the bar once again in the collaborative effort to save America’s largest flying bird from extinction,” Rose Legato, the zoo’s Curator of Birds, said in the statement. Legato said the recent record is a result of new breeding and rearing techniques developed at the zoo that put two or three chicks together to be raised by a single adult condor acting as a surrogate parent. “The result is more condor chicks in the program and ultimately more condors in the wild,” Legato said.

[cathartidae]

BEST BIRD 4EVER

silly photos below

[rjzimmerman]

"A face only a mother could love......"

Excerpt from this story from the LA Times:

A new method of rearing California condors at the Los Angeles Zoo has resulted in a record-breaking 17 chicks hatched this year, the zoo announced Wednesday.

All of the newborn birds will eventually be considered for release into the wild under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s California Condor Recovery Program, a zoo spokesperson said.

“What we are seeing now are the benefits of new breeding and rearing techniques developed and implemented by our team,” zoo bird curator Rose Legato said in a statement. “The result is more condor chicks in the program and ultimately more condors in the wild.”

Breeding pairs of California condors live at the zoo in structures the staff “affectionately calls condor-miniums,” spokesperson Carl Myers said. When a female produces a fertilized egg, the egg is moved to an incubator. As its hatching approaches, the egg is placed with a surrogate parent capable of rearing the chick.

This bumper year of condor babies is the result of a modification to a rearing technique pioneered at the L.A. Zoo.

Previously, when the zoo found itself with more fertilized eggs than surrogate adults available, staff raised the young birds by hand. But condors raised by human caretakers have a lower chance of survival in the wild (hence the condor puppets that zookeepers used in the 1980s to prevent young birds from imprinting on human caregivers).

In 2017, the L.A. Zoo experimented with giving an adult bird named Anyapa two eggs instead of one. The gamble was a success. Both birds were successfully released into the wild.

Faced with a large number of eggs this year, “the keepers thought, ‘Let’s try three,’” Myers said. “And it worked.”

The zoo’s condor mentors this season ultimately were able to rear three single chicks, eight chicks in double broods and six chicks in triple broods. The previous record number of 15 chicks was set in 1997.

[spinus-pinus]

California Condor Gymnogyps californianus

7/2/2018 Los Angeles County, California

Chris Trent via iNaturalist, CC-BY-NC

From iNaturalist observation: "Condor #526. Sadly, no longer with us. A few days after these photos were taken she was found shot to death. Another unfortunate way that lead kills Condors."

[antiqueanimals]

California condor. These are Endangered; written by Charles Cadieux and illustrated by Bob Hines. 1981.

Internet Archive

[rosesandthorns44]

Went with my besties and my little nephew to a nearby zoo* yesterday. Didn't know that they had California Condors until I saw banners about them as we were driving up.

I proceeded to start chanting "condors! Condors! CONDORS!" like a gleeful child.

When I got to the Condors I was sure to tell the big, gorgeous birds that they are big and gorgeous and that their neck feathers look fabulous.

This one was watching us as much as we were watching them:

I still want to go see California Condors in the wild someday.

*this particular zoo takes proper care of their animals and sources them ethically. Many of them are rescues that couldn't be returned to the wild. California Condors in particular are an endangered species that were brought back from the brink of extinction by captive breeding programs.

[corvidaemnit]

vulture fancam yaaay:3

you can also find it on my tiktok here if you want!

[scottpartridge]

California Condor, Gymnogyps californianus, a critically endangered Pleistocene vestige.