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CALIFORNIA CONDOR
California Condors
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http://birdfotos.com I am glad you came to view the Condors |
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I have found a new and reliable source
for Condor information
This person is a Park Ranger --Intertation person for the Grand Canyon National park.
The person's (ladies) name is
Ms. Marker Marshall
Marker_Marshall@nps.gov
Should you question any of her information.
up-dates as of 10/12/2007
I will post more up dates as I get them.
08/18/2008
I finally have something to report on the California condors. Winter may be a quiet time for us concerning condors, but it is not for the folks who work with these birds. I have divided the update into two sections; one for Arizona and the other for California.
Hello Condor Enthusiasts--
The latest California condor numbers from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service, as of July 31:
World total: 332
CA: 87 (including 8 chicks: 5 in the south and 3 in the Big Sur
area)
Baja: 14
AZ/UT: 65 (including one confirmed and one suspected chick).
This does not include 250M who is expected to remain in
captivity due to
his dislocated wing
Arizona breeding summary:
From five nesting pairs, we're down to two. Here's what's known:
Vermilion Cliffs nest of 195F/tag 95 & 158M/no tag: Nest failed. No
sign of egg, eggshell or chick to indicate at what stage it failed or
why.
Vermilion Cliffs nest of experienced breeders 126F/tag 26 & 114M/no tag:
First egg was broken 10 days after laying. They laid again. This nest
failed after hatching should have occurred, and an unhatched egg was
found in the cave.
Buddha Temple nest of 280F/tag 80 & 234F?/tag 4: Nest failed. No attempt
was made to enter the cave. Still waiting on DNA results to determine
the sex of #234, reported as female in the condor studbook.
Salt Creek nest of 127F/tag 27 & 123M/tag 23: Chick has been confirmed!
This is the same pair and the same cave that produced 305M (who later
died) in 2003 and 392M in 2005. Read the full story in July's Notes
From the Field at
http://www.peregrinefund.org/notes_category.asp?category=California%20Condor%20Releases%20in%20Arizona
Grandeur Point nest of 133F/tag 33 & 187M/tag 87: Chick strongly
suspected. Although the entrance to the cave is visible from the Tonto
plateau below, it's a small entrance with a bit of a lip to it making it
impossible to see much inside. But as Eddie Feltes writes in his latest
Notes From the Field, "...both 133F and 187M are still visiting the
inside of the cave daily, always with a full crop of carrion. The
visits are quick, usually only lasting a few minutes, and then they
depart from the small opening." They sure sound like the parents of a
chick!
Other news from AZ & UT:
According to the Notes From the Field, the majority of the condors have
been up in Utah lately. Eddie Feltes writes "To date we have documented 57
different condors...foraging in the Kolob range of Southern Utah at various
times in the past month. We have documented 27 different non-proffered
carcasses that the condors have found and fed upon during the month of
July, with the majority of these being domestic free-ranging sheep in Utah.
This trend continues year after year, with more and more birds traveling
the distance to Utah, and staying for several months with no need to visit
the proffered feeding site that we manage in the Vermilion Cliffs." People
are still seeing condors around the south rim, especially the breeding
adults, but their numbers have dropped somewhat from a month ago.
Effects of the fires in Big Sur:
All birds had to be evacuated from the flight pens at Big Sur to Pinnacles
National Monument, following which the empty flight pens did indeed burn
along with a lot of equipment. The field house survived. All three wild
chicks survived, even one formerly suspected to have been lost from its
nest in a hollow redwood tree whose base was scorched by the fire!
Unfortunately, two grown birds that didn't take off for the coast
apparently perished in the fire, perhaps having roosted in trees that
burned during the night. For more information, check out the Ventana
Wildlife Society's web site at
http://www.ventanaws.org/species_condors_fieldnotes/
Joe Burnett of the Ventana Wildlife Society reports:
"VWS has established a Condor Emergency Fund. The costs to replace both
condor facilities and all the associated gear are very significant. If you
would like to help VWS rebuild, please spread the word. Here's the contact
info...Thank you! Joe"
Ventana Wildlife Society's Condor Emergency Fund
19045 Portola Rd. Suite F-1
Salinas, CA. 93908
To call in your contribution: 831-455-9514
Donate on the web at www.ventanaws.org
Until I know something more...
--Marker
Ms. Marker Marshall
Park Ranger--Interpretation
Grand Canyon National Park
P.O. Box 129
Grand Canyon, AZ 86023
voice: (928) 638-7830
fax: (928) 638-7776
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CONDOR CALIFORNIA