July 4, 2009

Greetings All,

The last couple of weeks proved to be rather exciting as we finally trapped a condor we’d been trying to get for a few months, entered the condor nest near Pinnacles, participated in the Pinnacles Partnership picnic, and brought our newest cohort of juveniles to the flight pen.

For some time now, we have been trying to capture condor 313, since he is the male of the pair nesting near Pinnacles. We had observed him feeding on carcasses outside of the Monument on at least a couple of occasions and suspected he had fed on many more based on his GPS transmitter information. We finally caught him on June 22 and handled him the next day. We found that he had an elevated blood lead level, so he was given a chelation shot and taken to a vet for an x-ray. The radiograph fortunately came out clear. We gave him a series of 4 chelation injections over 3 days and released him on June 25. He immediately went back to tending his nestling.

Speaking of the nestling, we performed a 60-day nest check on June 24. The nestling was actually 68 days old by then and looked in good health. He weighed in over 11 pounds, a very healthy weight! His blood lead level came back relatively low at 18 ug/dL, but did indicate some exposure. However, we decided not to chelate the nestling. Overall, he is pretty feisty and seems to be maturing at a normal rate.

We witnessed more of the nestling’s behavior during the Pinnacles Partnership barbecue. It sounds like over 65 people were able to get out to see the condor nest and we heard many great reviews of the whole event. Four members of the condor crew staffed the nest viewing area for the event and really enjoyed speaking with so many enthusiastic people!

The most recent big news for the Condor Crew is the 2009 cohort of juveniles has arrived! Biologists picked them up in Boise and brought them to the Pinnacles flight pen on July 1. We have four juveniles to release this year, three are from Boise and the fourth is from the Oregon Zoo. We have an even split of males and females and all were raised by condors, as opposed to puppet-reared. Only one of the juveniles was raised by its parents, the other three were foster-reared. For those who wish to know, the studbook numbers (sex and rearing location) for the new arrivals are: 460 (female from Boise), 463 (male from Boise), 478 (male from Boise), and 481 (female from Oregon Zoo).

Thank you all for your support,

The Condor Crew

June 10, 2009

This just in! 303 and 313's nestling is a male! During the first nest entry when the nestling was 30 days old, we took a blood sample to determine its sex and we just got the result today.

Speaking of the nest, based on GPS data, both parents are regularly leaving the nest area to forage and returning presumably to feed the young bird. We're hoping to go out in the next few days to check it out with our own eyes before we perform the 60-day nest entry in the coming couple of weeks.

Other activities for the condor crew recently include trying to trap up all of the free-fliers for health checks. We initiated this in late April, then halted for a few weeks, but then restarted again in late May. So far, only 303 turned up with high lead levels. We have observed or suspected quite a few condors to be feeding outside of the park over the last 3-4 weeks, so we're delighted with the low lead levels we've been seeing so far.

Thanks to everyone who has assisted our crew in any way recently! Happy Summer!

-- The Condor Crew

February 26th, 2009

In the last couple of months, we released the final condors of the 2008 cohort, continued our intensive daily tracking efforts of the new juveniles, and started documenting breeding behavior in the oldest birds of the Pinnacles flock.

On January 13, Condor #421, the last juvenile of the 2008 cohort, found himself outside of the flight pen. He started with a couple of shaky flights followed by crash-landings, but he did discover the rest of the flock on his first day. Unfortunately, since then he’s proven to be a slow learner. It took over 2 weeks before he landed at the feeding site. We try to make sure newly released condors feed within 5 days of being released, so his extended time not feeding caused us to be very concerned. So concerned, in fact, we tried to catch him using both a hand net and net gun. We were unsuccessful, but on the third day of trying to catch him, he finally made it to the feeding site and fed! The other peculiar behavior with this particular condor is he refuses to roost off the ground. All of the other condors roost on branches in trees, but for some reason 421 chooses not to follow suit. Unfortunately, that puts him in significantly more danger. Roosting on the ground through the night means he’s much more easily approached by predators. At this point, we continue to keep an especially keen eye on Condor 421 and we hope that he starts roosting off the ground soon. If not we may bring him back into captivity for a few months and try to re-release him.

The same day Condor 421 was released, we also let go an adult female condor #112 who was transferred to Pinnacles from the US Fish and Wildlife Service release site in southern California. She had been interfering with breeding pairs in her home region, so she was transported to Pinnacles to see if she might breed with an adult male in this area or if she might change her ways. So far, she has stuck pretty close to Pinnacles with only a couple of flights outside of the park. She also tends to be by herself and occasionally is chased by some of the older females. It seems that she has not tried to establish herself in the flock yet. It should be interesting to see how her relationship with the other condors evolves and whether she ends up staying in central California.

Right now we are in the midst of condor breeding season. This is the first year that any of the Pinnacles condors have been old enough to breed and it looks like at least two of them are thinking about it. Interestingly, both have paired up with condors released by Ventana Wildlife Society in Big Sur. The first pair we noticed was Condor 313 (Pinnacles-released male) with Condor 303 (Big Sur-released female). They have been seen perching together on many occasions and are often seen at the feeding site together. They are also the only pair we have seen copulate successfully. The other potential pair we have seen is Condor 310 (Pinnacles-released female) and Condor 219 (Big Sur-released male). This pair we aren’t as certain about and only time will prove if they end up nesting. Fortunately, both 313 and 310 have GPS transceivers, so we can monitor where they go every hour of each day and hopefully get a good sense of what nest cliffs they choose.

That about sums up the recent activities of the Pinnacles condors and the tracking crew for the last couple of months. If you have any condor sightings or questions, please contact the Condor Recovery Crew at (831) 389-4486 ext. 276

January 7, 2009

We have successfully released 6 of the 7 new juveniles over the past 2 months. The 1^st two, #448 and 451, gave us a bit of trouble by flying over to a slide canyon west of the facility that lacked good perching trees and staying there for 3-4 days. We still don’t know why they went there, but eventually they caught a decent wind and made it over to the feeding site and into roosting trees near there. After those first two got their wings about them, we released another one. That condor, #431, appears to be a straight-A student, since on that first day made it from the facility to the feeding site and up into a roost tree! Soon after that, we released condors 418 and 438. Those two also did a wonderful job of following the other condors to the feeding site and into roost trees within the first couple of days of release. Most recently, Condor #422 was released last Sunday! She’s giving us a bit of a run, since on her first day out, she flew up and down Facility Ridge and is now spending time just outside the park. Hopefully she’ll return to the park soon and we also hope to get the last juvenile out this week or next.

In the midst of releasing these juveniles, we’ve kept an eye on the rest of the free-flying condors, too. This is the time of year when the thermals are more challenging and with fewer hours of daylight, the condors tend to roam less. We still see them easily hop the Salinas Valley and go back and forth between the Big Sur coast and Pinnacles, but we don’t observe them ranging as far south or north as they do during the summer months. In early December, one of the new releases, #451, flew with a group of older condors east of the park. He was the first of this new cohort to cross the park boundary, but then didn’t seem to want to come back. He ended up staying east of the park for over a week until finally returning to visit a feeding site. Since then, he hasn’t made many treks outside the park.

One fairly interesting side note that has been developing over the last couple of months is we recently received an adult female condor from the southern California population. Condor 112 was transferred to our flight pen at the end of December and should be released within a couple of weeks. The hope is she might either pair up with an adult male in this population or she might head back to southern California and return with some of the condors from down there. A long-term goal is to get the central and southern California flocks more integrated and this could be a step toward that goal.

December and January mark the time of year when adult condors begin thinking about nesting. This is the first year that any of the birds in the Pinnacles flock are now 6 years of age, making them old enough to consider breeding. So far this year, we’ve observed some possible nest searching activities both within and near the park. Interestingly, it appears 2 males, #286 and 313 (a Pinnacles condor), are trying to court one female, #303 (a Big Sur condor). Condor 286 was originally released at Pinnacles in the very first cohort back in 2003. That bird was trapped up within the first few months of being released though, because most of the cohort had been observed perching on power poles in the surrounding area. He was re-released at Big Sur before that flock had met the Pinnacles flock. Since the 2 flocks came together a few years ago, 286 now spends quite a lot of his time in the Pinnacles area.

On the topic of nesting, last year, 3 pairs of condors on the Big Sur coast were successful in producing fledglings! Amazingly, all 3 nests survived the fires that swept through the region last summer. Additionally, all 3 fledglings were outfitted with radio transmitters before they left their nests so that biologists there could track them as they began exploring their natal areas. Unfortunately, in mid-December, the biologists began hearing a mortality signal coming from one of the fledglings and soon discovered it dead on the ground near its nest. They retrieved the body and hopefully a cause of death will be determined. Despite that sad note though, there are at least 3 if not 5 pairs of condors looking into nesting in the Big Sur region this year.

On the topic of condor deaths, I’m sure many of you recall the death of Pinnacles condor #336 in September 2008. She was caught on private property on the Big Sur coast in an extremely poor state of health and was immediately transported to the vet hospital at the LA Zoo. Unfortunately, the vets were unable to bring her back from the brink and she died 2 days later. Her symptoms indicated she was suffering from lead poisoning and preliminary results supported that diagnosis, but were not entirely conclusive. We still do not have the final necropsy report for 336, but further lab results analyzing lead content in feather and other tissues support the initial diagnosis. When we receive the final report, I’ll make sure that it is available to all interested parties.

So that, in a nutshell, is all things condor for the last few months. This encapsulates pretty much everything in the life of a condor: nesting, new hatches and releases, exploring new territory, feeding, and death.

August 14, 2008

It’s time for a condor update! There certainly is a lot to report, such as the ramifications of the Big Sur fire, complete lead testing on all of the Pinnacles flock, ongoing outreach to hunters regarding the new ammunition regulations, and so on.

The Big Sur fire (officially known as the Basin Complex fire) has finally been contained and burned out. That fire began with a lightning strike on June 20^th only a mile or so away from the main facilities used by the Ventana Wildlife Society (VWS) condor program. By the next day, VWS staff realized that all of the captive juveniles and their mentor were in grave danger of being burned over. Through a series of emergency calls, the US Coast Guard was employed to help airlift all 8 of the captive condors to the Monterey airport where they were met by Pinnacles staff and transported back here. The transfer went as smoothly as one could hope and all of the condors were safely removed from Big Sur and placed in the flight pen at Pinnacles. Only 4 days later the fire burned over all of the VWS condor facilities.

During the fire, many condors originally released at both Big Sur and Pinnacles remained near the burning. We are unsure why they didn’t flee immediately, but it seems that perhaps the smoke caused many of the birds to get disoriented. We know based on GPS transceiver information that a couple of condors fled from the fire, while others seemed to wait it out in single locations. Unfortunately, it appears that two of the condors did not survive. Those two are Condors 278 and 377. Some of you may remember that 278 was initially released at Pinnacles in the very first cohort. That bird was then transferred to Big Sur for re-release. In the last year, 278 had rediscovered Pinnacles and had started spending more time here. Condor 377 was a Big Sur released condor and was one of their youngest. She also spent much of her time at Pinnacles and we will truly miss both her and 278.

The good news through all of the fire trials is that at least 2 of the nestlings in wild nests have survived! There is a 3^rd unconfirmed nestling that may also have survived. Because that site has virtually no access at this point, we can only wait and see if that one pops out of its tree cavity nest this fall. So, if it turns out this year that we lost two free-flying condors but gain up to three wild-fledged ones, then perhaps the flock will continue to grow.

From May through July, we trapped the entire Pinnacles flock and a few Big Sur condors for blood lead testing and health checks. Most of the birds tested came back with relatively low lead levels, 5 had elevated levels and 2 were suffering from acute lead toxicity and were transported to the LA Zoo for treatment. Those two were Condors 317 and 411. Both underwent multiple rounds of chelation treatments, but survived and were later re-released at Pinnacles. Interestingly, 411 had been tested for lead in May and then was recaptured and retested in June only to find that his blood lead level had jumped from 8 ug/dL to 180ug/dL. This just shows how quickly these birds may acquire lead in the environment.

July 1^st marked the start of a new law relating to the use of non-lead ammunition in counties within the condor range. Jake Theyerl of the Institute for Wildlife Studies (IWS) has been working tirelessly to put out the word on the new law through hosting shooting events where hunters can try free non-lead ammunition and by distributing brochures about the new regulations. If you, or anybody you know, are interested in trying non-lead ammunition, please contact Jake at (831) 524-6006.

I mentioned earlier that we are now holding juveniles in our flight pen for release this fall. It looks like we have a cohort of 7 individuals to be released. Three of those are parent-reared condors from the Peregrine Fund facility in Idaho, another 3 are very carefully puppet-reared juveniles from the LA Zoo, and the last one is actually the chick from an egg removed from a wild nest here in central California. It should be pretty interesting to see how this blend of juveniles fares in the wilds of Pinnacles this fall. Don’t forget to mark your calendars that the public release is Saturday, November 1^st!

2006/2007 Condor Updates

2004/2005 Condor Updates