Endangered California Condors Produce Eighth Egg of the Season

PORTLAND, Ore. — Endangered California condors at the Oregon Zoo’s Jonsson Center for Wildlife Conservation have produced a record number of eggs this year. Eight eggs have been laid at the off-site facility since February, one from each mature pair of birds, and the zoo anticipates its most successful condor breeding season ever.
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As I ran out of my office this morning to attend to a few errands around the San Diego Zoo, I looked up in the trees at the panda exhibit and saw Zhen Zhen, happily scaling branches and playing with leaves above me. Yesterday, as I checked the queue to see how our bears were doing, Zhen was up in those trees, skirting around the obstacles she encountered and playfully enjoying her view of those below. As many of you panda watchers know, our cub spends a lot of her time above the ground, in places where neither the keepers nor her mother can get to her.
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The first two California condor chicks for the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park 2008 season have hatched. The chicks, the 140th and 141st to hatch at the Wild Animal Park, are being hand raised by keepers.

Los cuidadores del cóndor de California en el San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park estan criando dos polluelos, los primeros en empollar en el Parque durante la estación del 2008. Estos polluelos, el cóndor 140 y el 141 en nacer en el Parque, ser¡n criados a mano.

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Keepers at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park fed a 2-day-old California condor chick, the first for the 2008 season, for the first time Monday. A second chick is expected to hatch any time, while four eggs are still being incubated.
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Tama is the star of the show at the Oregon Zoo, with plenty of fire and spunk. She was caught in the wild in 1985 as part of the California Condor Recovery Program. At the time, it was estimated that only 17 birds were remaining in the wild.
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So things here at Polar Bear Plunge at the San Diego Zoo still seem to be at a stand still. We are continuing our management the same by rotating the different pairs of bears, but have not seen any further progression between Chinook and Kalluk. I’m not sure that we’ll hear the pitter patter of little paws after all.
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The glow at night and the pillar of smoke have even the local villagers in Volcano Hawaii talking in loud voices in the local post office. Not more than two miles south of the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center on the Big Island of Hawaii sits the Kilauea Volcano and its smoking core, the Halemaumau Crater: fabled to be the home of the Pele, goddess of fire. Since early March of this year, the Halemaumau vent has been releasing ash, steam, and sulphur dioxide in a towering plume of smoke that can be seen for miles. Although we are used to the constant smell of “vog” (volcanic fog) here at the bird propagation center, this new eruption and constant volcanic belching is of some concern. Here’s more information from the National Park Service…
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Visit-A-Job is a great program that allows our employees a chance to visit another department for the day.

Sure, I was a little nervous on the morning of my Visit-A-Job at the Wild Animal Park’s Bird Department. Walking into a strange office with unknown people at an ungodly hour of the morning would be enough to make anyone edgy. When I opened the door to the office trailer, what greeted me instead was a room full of smiling faces and a Harry Potter-themed birthday cake. It was a keeper’s birthday and someone brought in an ice cream cake, which they graciously offered to all of us. Score! My first minute on the job and I’m already gorging on a Mississippi mud pie!
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Photo credit: Natural Research, Ltd.

Read Mike’s previous blog, Tracking Steller’s Sea-eagles, Part 2…

As Steller’s sea-eagle #65632 continues her journey, we are continuing to track her movements. Well, #65632 has started her migration north (though, because of local geography, there has been no northerly component of the migration yet!). In mid-January, she moved back to the mainland of Hokkaido and spent a couple of weeks along the south coast of that island near Moraito. By the end of January, though, she had moved back into Russian territory on Rausu Island, and from early February until late March was hopping between there and the Shiretoko Peninsula on Hokkaido.
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The Wild Animal Park’s Sumatran tiger siblings Kemala, Rojo, and Sari headed out March 31 on their journey to a new home at the Topeka Zoo in Kansas. These tiger “cubs” are now almost 16 months old and the term “cub” really is no longer justified (see previous blog, Tiger Cubs Are Growing Up!). These cats have earned the description of subadults; their last weights, taken on March 25, showed Kemala at 169 pounds (76.8 kilograms), Sari at 175 pounds (79.5 kilograms), and Rojo at a whopping 205 pounds (93.2 kilograms)! To put these weights in perspective, mom Delta weighs 188 pounds (85.5 kilograms) and dad Utan weighs 290 pounds (131.4 kilograms). So, as you can tell, they are growing fast!
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