Two condor chicks were on my personal radar this year — chick #871 was still in a nest in the Sespe Condor Sanctuary last week but potentially threatened by the Thomas Fire. The other (#872) I’ve been tracking mentally is the first chick in 32 years born in the wild to wild born parents.
First the unmitigated good news. The second generation wild-born condor has successfully fledged and is shown in the photo below with her wings spread. She doesn’t have the colorful bald head yet, her bald head is grey. Adult coloration takes six to eight years to develop. The condor perched on a branch is mama condor Miracle who along with mate Nomad raised their chick in a hollowed-out cavity of an old redwood tree in Big Sur. Mother Miracle was born in 2009 and Papa Nomad in 2010 in Big Sur.
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The news on chick #871 is uncertain. The bird’s radio transmitter was still sending a signal on December 11th. On Friday December 15th, the Thomas Fire burned within one mile of the Devils Gate nest and biologists lost the radio signal that day. Because firefighters were able to hold the fire’s progress at the Sespe River, the nest and surrounding areas haven’t burned (but the uncontained perimeter of the fire is adjacent to the Sanctuary). Loss of radio signal might mean the chick fledged and flew to a location where terrain blocks the signal.
The Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge overseeing the Sespe Condor Sanctuary is about four miles to the east of the fire. Biologists who reported loss of the transmitter signal have not been able to hike into the nest site yet.
Unfortunately since Friday, biologists have not been able to pick up a signal for #871. This could very well mean that the chick has fledged, and is in an area that biologists simply cannot pick up the signal from the designated safe spots to check for signals. One good piece of news is that according to our GPS records, the mother #513, was in and around the nest area during this precarious time, hopefully guiding her nestling to a safe place.
Since 2001, when nesting began in the reintroduced population of condors, wildfires have burned over six active nests. Five out of the six chicks survived these past wildfires so there is a good chance that #871 will survive. There is still an active fire near the refuge, but it does not appear to be an immediate threat to the nest or Hopper Mountain NWR; however, until that fire is contained our condor crew are still limited in terms of what they can do in the field, including hiking out to check on #871. We are currently working with fire crews to determine when it will be safe to do so. We’ll be crossing our fingers for a happy ending to this story!
Hopper Mountain released more captive-raised condors this year. The Southern California flock population now includes at least 80 condors.
These captive-raised condors are a big component in recovering the California condors because they help to supplement the wild reproduction effort. These condors aren't just tossed out on the hillside however, they are assessed by both captive and field crews to determine whether or not they are good candidates for release, and they are also given a physical check-up prior to release. As soon as the condor crew feel these birds are ready to head out into the wild, they bait wild members of the flock to the release site. Once wild condors show up to feed, the door is opened and the captive-raised condors can engage in the very social behavior of feeding. Ideally, the condors will then fly off with the wild members in order establish their place within the flock.
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