birdfotos.com

Condor Enthusiasts--

Attached below in Word is (finally) the revised Condor Chart by Tag Number (full-sized version).  One change from previous years: I dropped the chart relating the color of plastic to the age of the condor, since the Peregrine Fund ran out of new colors and abandoned that system. 

 

Current California Condors in Arizona by Tag #

Updated as of September 18, 2007

Not-yet-released birds in italics, breeding or formerly breeding birds & wild-hatched birds in bold.

SB# = Studbook number, sequential by hatch date (VC chick #459 as youngest has highest SB#).  Has GPS = wearing GPS satellite transmitter as of 3/26/07 (subject to change).  LAZ = Los Angeles Zoo.  SDWAP = San Diego Wild Animal Park.  WCBP = Peregrine Fund’s World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho.  VC = Vermilion Cliffs.  Hurricane = Hurricane Cliffs, a briefly-used 2^nd release site north of the western part of Grand Canyon.   “Captured for behavior” in AZ has generally meant approaching people, but in some birds originally released in CA the issue was landing on power poles.

There are no changes in condor numbers or the status of nest caves since my last update on July 7. 

Peregrine Fund biologist are able to peek into the Vermilion Cliffs nest of female 126 & male 114 on a daily basis through a spotting scope.   They report that the chick looks fine and is growing rapidly.  That chick hatched on June 7, so it might be expected to take its first flight around early to mid-December.

Biologists still haven't actually located the nest cave of female 210 & male 134, or visually confirmed the presence of a chick, despite two efforts to hike into that part of the Canyon with a radio antenna.  But based on 210's behavior as recorded from her GPS satellite transmitter, all appears to be well there too.  After feeding, she routinely makes a beeline for the section of the Canyon around river mile 135, the Deer Creek/Thunder River/Tapeats Creek area, where she stays just a short time.  Male 134 is no doubt behaving the same way, although there are no GPS data for him.  That chick hatched around May 1 from an egg laid around March 3, so if all goes well it might fledge around the beginning of November.

The July 31 Population Size & Distribution report from the US Fish & Wildlife Service reports no new fatalities.  Still approximately 306 California condors total.  That includes 4 wild chicks in southern California and 2 in the Big Sur area, plus 69 wild California birds either flying or temporarily in captivity.  Baja has 18 wild birds.  Arizona has 59 wild birds plus the 2 chicks, not counting male 265 who has been in the wild in CA but not yet in Arizona. 

Of our 59 wild birds, 56 are currently free-flying.  The 2-year-old Salt Creek chick (male 392) is still being held (like 265) until Peregrine Fund has staff enough available to conduct another release.  324 and 282 are also being held, for behavioral reasons.  But male 270 WAS re-released in early August, having fully recovered from being treated for a broken leg at the Phoenix Zoo this spring.

I spoke yesterday to Evan Buechley of Peregrine Fund.  He reports that as usual, about half (20-30) of the free-flying birds have been spending most of their time up in Utah, mostly north and just west of Zion National Park (down to Virgin, up towards Cedar City & Cedar Breaks National Monument). In fact, lately this has often included OVER half of "our" birds--35 or more.  They find a lot of domestic sheep carcasses on the private lands up there, as well as mule deer and lately some calves that apparently died from larkspur poisoning.  Up to a dozen condors have been spending significant time in the Grand Canyon Village area, still interested in the mule carcass on the Bright Angel Trail but also feeding sometimes up at Vermilion Cliffs.  There are also generally some young birds who spend most of their time in the Vermilion Cliffs area even in summer, along with the breeding pair #126 & 114.

Hunting season is slowly beginning.  It's currently archery season in Utah.  Archery season for deer on the North Kaibab/Paria starts September 14, along with archery elk season on the South Kaibab.  Then various rifle seasons begin, peaking with the rifle season for deer on the North Kaibab & Paria that starts October 26.  Let's hope that this year the vast majority of rifle hunters will have switched to non-lead ammunition!  For more information about the lead issue and efforts by Arizona Game & Fish to inform hunters and get them to try out copper bullets, check out their web site at http://www.azgfd.gov/w_c/california_condor.shtml.

Also check out the June "Notes From the Field" if you haven't yet at www.peregrinefund.org, for photos of the Vermilion Cliffs nest cave and of that chick when newly hatched.  July and August Notes should also be available before long.

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

 

 

 

Condor News as of September 18:

Pardon the level of detail as this goes to a wide assortment of people.  I've tried to put key points in bold blue for those who want just the highlights.

Southern California has fledged their third wild chick (first for this year)!  This is the first successful fledging of a chick--a female as it happens--in the wild by male AC9 and his mate (who is also unfortunately his daughter).  AC9 was the last bird brought into captivity of the original wild condors in California, back on Easter Sunday of 1987.  He was released on May 1, 2002, and is the only original wild condor who is back in the wild.  (AC2 and AC8, his old mate, were also released but later died, AC2 of unknown causes and AC8 from being shot by a pig hunter.)  I'm not sure when the fledging took place; the youngster is not yet 6 months of age. This leaves 3 wild chicks in southern California now and 2 in the Ventana wilderness/Big Sur area.  Not counting AC9 himself, there are now 3 wild-fledged condors in southern California (one from '04, one from '06, and so far as of September 1, one from '07).

A wild condor died of lead poisoning in southern California on August 13, but I'm sticking with "about 306" as the total condor number since the US Fish & Wildlife Service September 1 Status Report lists 305 total but also lists one of the Arizona birds as dead (having disappeared briefly back in March) that in fact is alive and well.  With a new release or two, California is up to about 76 wild condors (counting 5 chicks, one new fledgling, and several birds being temporarily held) and Baja is still at 18. 

Of California's 5 unfledged wild chicks, 3 are listed in the studbook as having "foster" parents, which is also true of the chick that fledged there in 2006.  These are all the result of egg swaps.  Each chick hatched in the wild from an egg laid in captivity either at the L.A. Zoo or the San Diego Wild Animal Park.  The captive-laid egg was placed in the wild nest cave at the "pipping" (ready-to-hatch) stage, replacing a dummy egg that was placed in the wild nest when the biologists removed the original wild egg.  My understanding is that in some cases the original wild-laid egg was fertile but was removed for incubation in captivity due to doubts about the  effectiveness of incubation by the wild parents.  In other cases it was removed because it was found to be infertile or dead but the biologists chose to let the wild pair have a chance of raising a truly wild chick in place of the captive pair who laid the fertile egg.  The Arizona story is much simpler, as all five of our fledglings and the two current chicks have been raised by their own parents in the wild. 

In Arizona/Utah, we're still at 59 wild birds plus 2 chicks = 61 plus #265 who's been released in California but not yet here, plus 9 never-released juveniles.  Wild-fledged #392 is still being held, as well as #282, #324 and now #327 for behavioral reasons, currently leaving 55 free-flying birds.  (On any given day there may be other birds being captured and immediately re-released for quick transmitter changes or similar reasons.)  But Eddie Feltes mentions that some new birds may be released in early October, so these numbers are likely to change.

The other big news is that the chick in the Deer Creek/Thunder River area was finally visually confirmed by Tim Hauck of Peregrine Fund on September 9.  Not surprisingly, the nest is in a cave in the Redwall Limestone.  Check out photos of the cave area and of the chick in the July-August "Notes from the Field" at the Peregrine Fund web site, www.peregrinefund.org.  There's also a photo of #270 being released back into the wild on July 18 (not in August as I'd previously reported), with a healed and functional although still-crooked leg.

Our chicks have studbook numbers now.  The Deer Creek chick is #441 and the Vermilion Cliffs chick is #459.  #459 is the highest-numbered, hence youngest, California condor in the world until next breeding season, having hatched on June 6.  #441 is listed in the studbook as having hatched around April 28, so this chick will reach six months of age around October 28 and should take its first flight within a few weeks either way of that date.

We've still got some condors roosting below Grand Canyon Village most nights.  Eddie Feltes mentions in his July-August "Notes from the Field" that at one point in August there were 42 condors in the Kolob/Zion area of southern Utah, out of 55 free-flying birds.  This was a new record for the number of birds in that area, where he writes that "with an ample and consistent food supply and the near-perfect topography for soaring condors, we expect this trend to continue and have had to dedicate a major portion of our monitoring to this region." 

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