Contacts
Department of the Interior
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
2493 Portola Road
Ventura, CA 93022
Phone: 805/644-1766
Fax: 805/644-3958
01-87
Contact: John Brooks, Greg Austin, or Marc Weitzel, Hopper Mt National Wildlife Refuge, (805) 644-5185
Judy Shay, Los Angeles Zoo, (323) 644-4272
Christina Simmons, Zoological Society of San Diego, (619) 685-3291
Bruce Palmer or Lois Grunwald, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, (805) 644-1766
The first California condor chick to hatch in the wild since 1984 was found dead below its cliff-face nest cave on June 25 in Los Padres National Forest in Santa Barbara County, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported today.
"While it is disappointing that this chick did not survive, it was not entirely unexpected," said Susie Kasielke, Los Angeles Zoo curator of birds. "What is important is that these adult birds will have learned from the experience of incubating and hatching an egg, which will increase their chances of success in the future."
Service biologist Mike Barth found the body of the 2 ½-day-old, hand-sized chick with two deep gashes in the head and neck which resembled bite marks from a condor. Biologists believe the female condor that was brooding the chick had left the nest to feed when another female condor that had previously left the nest returned. Based on the behavior of condors at captive breeding facilities, it appears that this female entered the nest expecting to find an egg. Instead, it found the chick -- a foreign object -- and killed it.
"I was expecting the worse, but hoping for a miracle when I saw from the observation blind that the chick was not in the nest," said Barth. The bird has been taken to San Diego Zoo for a necropsy.
"It is not uncommon for one member of a pair of condors to be out foraging and absent from the nest for more than several days at a time," said Dr. Mike Wallace of the San Diego Zoo and Condor Recovery Team leader. "But one of the major hurdles to successful nesting -- in the wild or at the zoo -- is the uncertainty of what will happen when a condor that was not present when a chick hatches returns to find a new chick."
"Despite the loss of the chick, the condors have learned a lot in this experience," said Bruce Palmer, Service condor coordinator. "When these condors nest again, they may be raising a chick of their own in the wild."
The last condor to hatch in the wild was in1984. This nesting is unusual because two females occupy the same nest. These females each produced one egg after mating with a single male. Inexperience may have played a primary role in the adult birds' confused incubation behavior as they continually switched places in an attempt to incubate the eggs. The male left the nest site about a week ago. All these birds were released to the wild in 1995.
"As more of the reintroduced condors reach breeding age and gain nesting experience, I suspect we will see more natural pair formation and the need for intervention at the nest will lessen," said Mike Wallace, California condor recovery team leader for the San Diego Zoo.
The chick's parents were captive-reared condors at the Los Angeles zoo. A team of biologist from the Service, San Diego Zoo, and Los Angeles Zoo removed two eggs from the nest on June 1 and replaced them with a single fake egg. The condors continued to incubate the fake egg until biologists replaced it June 18 with an egg laid by the zoo-reared condor that was showing signs of hatching. One of the removed eggs was dead and other was in danger of dying of exposure and development complications. That egg was taken to the Los Angeles Zoo where it hatched June 17 after receiving extensive care. The chick has been accepted by a pair captive-reared condors there and appears to be doing well after receiving supplemental fluids from zoo keepers.
The main purpose in switching the eggs was to give the birds the most experience possible in raising a chick. The ultimate goal, say biologists, is to get free-flying condors to raise a chick on their own without human intervention. It may take several breeding attempts over several years for the condors to learn all the appropriate behaviors to successfully raise a chick.
Condors are scavenging birds that soared over the Southern California mountains and other areas since prehistoric times but their numbers plummeted in the 20th century. The causes of their decline are not completely known but lead poisoning is believed to be among the factors. Condors were listed as an endangered species in 1967, under a law that predated the existing Endangered Species Act. In 1982, the condor population reached its lowest level of 22, prompting Service biologists to start collecting condor chicks and eggs for a captive breeding program. By late 1984, only 15 condors remained in the wild and six of them died within a short period, several from lead poisoning. Lead poisoning occurs after scavenging birds such as condors, turkey vultures, golden eagles and bald eagles eat the meat of dead animals that contain lead fragments from bullets. In 1987, the last of 27 California condors were removed from the wild and brought into the captive breeding program.
Condors do not reach maturity until they are six or seven years old. This is the first year that reintroduced condors laid eggs in the wild. Currently, there are 34 condors in the wild in two areas in California, and 25 free-flying condors in the Grand Canyon area in Arizona. On March 25, 2001, the first egg laid by reintroduced condors was discovered in the Grand Canyon. That egg was broken by the condors and the nesting attempt failed. There are 125 California condors being held in captivity, including 26 chicks hatched this year. The birds' slow rate of reproduction and years spent reaching breeding maturity make the condor population vulnerable.
The goal of the California Condor Recovery Plan is to establish two geographically separate populations, one in California and the other in Arizona, each with 150 birds and at least 15 breeding pairs. Reintroductions to the wild of juvenile captive-bred condors began in 1992. Annual releases continue as part of efforts to establish two separate, self-sustaining wild populations of condors -- the primary population in California, the other in the Grand Canyon region in Arizona. Release programs in California are managed by the Ventana Wildness Society, and Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge; the Arizona release program is managed by The Peregrine Fund. Captive condor flocks have been established at San Diego Wild Animal Park, Los Angeles Zoo, and The Peregrine Fund's World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho. The first successful captive breeding occurred in 1988. The California Condor Recovery Program is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and consists of private and public partnerships that contribute personnel, expertise, institutional support, and funding.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 94-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 535 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
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