California condor #430 in the chaparrel.

Condor #446 in the release pen.

The older condors roost on top of the release pen.

Condor #436 on release day.

Now we hope for a smooth transition over time as they practice flying, learn where to find food, water, roosts, and seek acceptance within the group.

Mike Wallace is a conservation program manager for the San Diego Zoo.

California Condor Recovery Program

California condor chick in Baja California, Mexico

Mike and Juan rappel to the nest site.

Mike and chick eye each other.

We check the blood some time later and can administer another dose, but usually it is not needed. Kiliwa, as we are calling him/her after the Native American tribe in the northern Baja California area, is one of 15 condor chicks sitting in nest caves throughout the range where condors have been introduced in California, Arizona, and Mexico. Including all zoo production, an amazing total of 49 condor chicks have hatched this year!

Mike Wallace is a conservation program manager for the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research.

So here is how it works: you can create your own Animal SOS page, set a fund-raising goal, select whether you want to benefit polar bear or giant panda conservation efforts, and then get your friends and families involved. There is a section where you can write all about your love for our bear friends, upload your favorite pictures, and see who has donated to your Animal SOS campaign on your very own donor wall. There is also a section where your friends and family can post inspirational messages on your page to motivate you in your crusade to save these species.

This is a great idea for kids who have birthdays coming up and don’t need any more toys, group or schools that want to paw out extinction, or anyone else who is interested in saving polar bears and giant pandas. This is also a great way to honor your favorite animal lover or bear.

Funds raised from this program will be directed to polar bear conservation efforts in North America and giant panda conservation work in China.

On behalf of all of our polar bears and giant pandas—Su Lin, Chinook, Bai Yun, Tatqiq, Gao Gao, Kalluk, and our little Zhen Zhen—thank you in advance for supporting the conservation efforts that will help their relatives back home in their native lands.

If you have questions about this program, we are only a click away at donate@sandiegozoo.org or you can call us at 619-557-3914.

Female condor #284 enters her nest.

Program Field Manager Juan Vargas rappels down the cliff face to a condor nest.

A condor egg in the nest.

After the western nest inspection, the field team traveled to the mountain ranges on the eastern side of the Sierras to search for the nest of condors #217 and #261. This trip took us across the parched lakebeds and deserts inland from the coastal tourist town of San Felipe toward the imposing mountains of Picacho del Diablo. At 10,000 feet (3,000 meters), these are the tallest peaks in Baja. Camped among the giant cardon cacti at the base of the mountains, the field team is now sweeping the area for the VHF signals broadcast by microtransmitters attached to the breeding pair. Once the location of the condor nest is confirmed, an expedition will be conducted to enter the site and inspect the (hopefully healthy) egg that lies within.

While based at the feet of the eastern ranges during the search for the second condor nest, we also installed the first of a series of meteorological stations on top of one of the nearby peaks. Hauling the station and the heavy equipment needed to install it up steep, spiny, cactus-covered slopes during 108 degree Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius) heat in the shade proved to be a challenging endeavor, and we greatly appreciate the assistance of the local Mexican neighborhood at Rancho Santa Clara. This meteorological station is currently transmitting data on wind speed and direction plus the temperature of the air at the eastern mountains for download via the Internet. These data on the climate conditions experienced by the condors in the region are providing valuable information on the environmental variables that determine the habitat preferences of the birds. Condors make extensive use of the strong winds and thermal updrafts that occur across the face of mountain ranges to make long-distance foraging flights without expending excessive energy. Enhanced understanding of how these winds shape condor movement behaviors will enable managers to better tailor the reintroduction program to the specific habitat requirements of the birds.

James Sheppard is a postdoctoral fellow for the San Diego Zoo’s Institute for Conservation Research.

Read more about his project
Read James’ previous post, Golden Eagle Helicopter Survey

In heading up to the observation blind the other day, I knew it would be a quiet day for the birds. It was raining and windy outside, and in such conditions the birds typically do little but hunker down and wait out the storm. The most difficult part of observation that day involved determining if a bird was sitting quietly or was, in fact, asleep!

Condors are carrion feeders and have some adaptations to this lifestyle that help them succeed. They have bald heads and necks, a feature that deprives them of the cute and fluffy appearance of some other birds. But when feeding at a carcass, the condor does not need to worry about the bacteria and other unsavory microbes growing on their food source. These harmful critters don’t become trapped by plumage and fester on the bird; rather, the sun or wind can dry out the microbes quickly on the bird’s bald skin.

On days like this, however, those featherless features can be a bit of a hindrance. Without plumage to cover the skin, the birds are at risk of heat loss to the environment on a cold day. In order to protect themselves from dropping temperatures, the condors sit quietly with their necks shortened as much as possible and their heads held low. They fluff up the fringe of feathers at the base of their neck as a type of scarf. In this posture they ride out the storm in good fashion.

This is the first foul weather our little fledges, hatched earlier this year, have ever encountered. They had varying reactions to it: one young bird looked around with each wind gust, while another slept through the whole ordeal. Not to worry: in San Diego we are bound to have another warm day soon enough, and the condors will once again be sunning themselves contentedly with the other members of their cohort.

Suzanne Hall is a senior research techinican for the San Diego Zoo. Read her previous condor blog, Condors: Challenges with a New Cohort.

Visit the California Condor Conservation Web site for all the latest information about these birds…

Consequently, the wind conditions within a condor’s habitat are likely one of the principle determinants of condor foraging ability, which is why condor introduction programs have been sited in mountainous regions with strong updrafts. Enhanced understanding of the meteorological conditions that determine the flying ability and foraging success of condors is vital to tailoring reintroduction programs to the bird’s habitat needs. No formal analysis of the characteristics of the winds that shape condor movements has yet been conducted.

We recently installed the first of an array of remote weatherstations that will be placed throughout the expanding ranges of the condors that are being reintroduced to Baja California, Mexico. The units include an anemometer to measure wind speed and direction and a thermometer to measure air temperature. The weather data is stored in a data recorder and can be downloaded at the end of the recording period (limited to about six months of memory capacity) using a handheld shuttle. Rather than choosing arbitrary locations, the sites where the weatherstation are to be installed were selected by overlaying the home ranges of 14 birds that were GPS-tracked for three years. This way the climate data we record will be taken from habitats that have actually been used intensively by the birds themselves. The big challenge to our team is that the weatherstation sites are in very remote and inaccessible areas, which presents considerable logistic difficulties for equipment installation and data acquisition.

The site for the installation of our first weatherstation was only half a mile from the Baja base camp, which certainly made it easy for us to carry the units and all of the equipment needed to set them up. Once at the site we selected a suitable tree on which to mount the weather sensors. The stations must be installed well off the ground to sample the strongest wind flows while minimizing ground-based turbulence and interference. We also need the units to be high enough to deter interference by curious animals (and curious people!). We needed climbing ropes and harnesses to bolt the unit 33 feet (10 meters) off the ground onto the main trunk of the tree. This was not an easy task, and was complicated by the fact that each unit must also be precisely calibrated to compass directions, often while the units were recording wind velocities of more than 33 feet (10 meters) per second.

The second weatherstation was placed at Venado Blanco, at the crest of a steep ridge overlooking a series of valleys back toward the condor campsite, which was about three miles to the southwest. The reintroduced condors have been tracked coming to this site many times over the past three years, and during our journey to the site we encountered a herd of deer and noticed the hoof prints of cattle and scats from various animals (the kinds of things that attract inquisitive and hungry condors). Getting to the Venado Blanco site required some serious off-roading and a hike with the weatherstations and their installation equipment across steep chaparral covered slopes.

The site itself was a picturesque study in contrasts, with colorful desert flowers in bloom beneath blackened pine trees that had been scarred by numerous lightening strikes and wildfires. The frequent storm activity in the area is of particular concern, since a high voltage blast of static electricity could have some serious negative consequences for one of our little weatherstations! To reduce the possibility of lightening strike we grounded our units to a long copper rod that we hammered into the ground. Needless to say, trying to find sufficient earth in which to hammer a six-foot rod into in a rocky granite peak also presented a physical challenge.

The remaining weatherstations are soon to be installed across the remote eastern canyons of the Baja reintroduction site that face the open deserts towards the Gulf of California. This network of canyons includes Picacho Del Diablo, which is the steepest peak in Baja. The sheer difficulty of reaching these sites necessitates the incorporation of a remote data uplink system into the weatherstations, to beam the climate data directly to us via a satellite modem. Once installed, we will be able to access the weather information provided by the units via the Internet. By matching the wind conditions and air temperatures with the movement patterns of the ranging condors we will be able to build an extensive and accurate picture of the environmental factors that shape condor habitat use and foraging success. This is another example of how cutting-edge technology can contribute highly valuable information to enhance management programs designed to conserve threatened species.

Public invited to vote for the 2008 Zoo Father of the Year

PORTLAND, Ore. — It’s time for dads to take center stage, and the Oregon Zoo wants your help in choosing its Zoo Father of the Year for 2008. Atishwin the California condor, Kiku the colobus monkey, and Packy the Asian elephant are this year’s honored contenders. An online ballot featuring photos and short biographies of the zoo dads is posted on the Oregon Zoo’s Web site: www.oregonzoo.org/Voter/vote_form.cfm.

“We just finished a campaign for Zoo Mother of the Year and found it was a fun way to initiate a relationship between the public and the highlighted animals,” said Tony Vecchio, zoo director. “As the public reads about the nominees, all of which belong to species that are either threatened or endangered, we hope they’ll come to understand and care about the challenges facing these animals in the wild.”

Online votes will be accepted until 5 p.m. Thursday, June 12. The Oregon Zoo will announce its 2008 Zoo Father of the Year Friday, June 13, at 10 a.m. The zoo is a service of Metro and is dedicated to its mission to inspire the community to create a better future for wildlife. Committed to conservation, the Oregon Zoo is currently working to save endangered California condors, Washington’s pygmy rabbits, Oregon silverspot butterflies, western pond turtles, Oregon spotted frogs and Kincaid’s lupine. Other projects include studies on black rhinos, Asian elephants, polar bears, and bats.

The Oregon Zoo opens at 9 a.m. daily and is located five minutes from downtown Portland, just off Highway 26. It is also accessible by MAX light rail line. Oregon Zoo visitors are encouraged to ride MAX or take TriMet bus No. 63 to the Oregon Zoo. Visitors who take the bus or MAX receive $1 off zoo admission. Call TriMet Customer Service, 503-238-RIDE (7433), or visit www.trimet.org for fare and route information.

General admission is $9.75 (12-64), seniors $8.25 (65+), children $6.75 (3-11), and infants 2 and under are free; 25 cents of the admission price helps fund regional conservation projects through the zoo’s Future for Wildlife program. A parking fee of $1 per car is also required. Additional information is available at www.oregonzoo.org or by calling 503-226-1561.

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Contacts: Bill LaMarche 503-220-2448 (office) or 503-497-5812 (pager)
Linda D’Ae-Smith 503-220-5716 (office) or 503-441-7573 (pager)

PORTLAND, Ore. — After a week of antibiotics and a blood transfusion from adult condor Nootka, Oregon Zoo staff is pleased to report that the newest zoo addition, an endangered California condor chick, has seemingly turned he corner and is getting stronger.

In the early hours of May 7, zoo staff worked feverishly to hatch the underweight and shell-bound bird. Monitoring the egg at the zoo’s Jonsson Center for Wildlife Conservation, keepers determined it would not be able to hatch alone. Fearing the chick would suffocate, they stepped in and helped, worst-case scenario for them. The chick was removed from the nesting room and immediately transferred to an indoor facility, where keepers broke away part of the shell and removed the chick.

“The hatch went well, but it was an extremely small chick, our lowest watch-weight yet,” said Shawn St. Michael, Oregon Zoo condor curator. “It is common for chicks to be pretty quiet for the first 24 hours after hatch. It’s an exhausting process. But we became concerned when this chick failed to perk up the way we would expect after his rest.”

St. Michael and condor keepers provided around-the-clock care, administering antibiotics and enlisting the help of an adult condor, Nootka, for a life-saving blood donation.

“Thanks to the hard work of our staff, this chick is looking good now, and we expect it will be just fine,” said St. Michael. “The chick will be puppet-reared by human foster parents and later mentored by another adult condor.”

The assisted hatch is the fourth successful hatch of 2008 for the Oregon Zoo, with one more expected in early June.

To see a video of the condor chick’s dramatic assisted hatch, visit www.oregonzoo.org/VideoArchive/CondorHatch.htm

The Oregon Zoo’s condor recovery efforts take place at the Jonsson Center for Wildlife Conservation, located in rural Clackamas County on Metro-owned open space. The remoteness of the facility minimizes the exposure of young condors to people, increasing the chances for captive-hatched birds to survive and breed in the wild.

The Jonsson Center is currently home to 30 condors. The center has produced 15 eggs since it was established and 14 chicks have hatched.

In 2001, the Oregon Zoo became the third zoo in the nation to join the California Condor Recovery Program. California condor captive-breeding programs are also operated at San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, the Los Angeles Zoo and the Peregrine Fund’s World Center for Birds of Prey. The Oregon Zoo was the recipient of The Wildlife Society’s Conservation Award for “creating the nation’s fourth California condor breeding facility” in April 2005.

For more information about the Oregon Zoo’s California condors, visit http://www.oregonzoo.org/Condors/index.htm. For Oregon Zoo condor biographies, visit http://www.oregonzoo.org/Condors/condorBios.htm.

Condors, the largest land birds in North America, have wingspans of up to 10 feet and weigh 18 to 30 pounds. They are highly intelligent and inquisitive, often engaging in play. During the Pleistocene Era, which ended about 10,000 years ago, condors’ range extended across much of North America. By 1940, that range had been reduced to the coastal mountains of Southern California, and in 1967 condors were added to the first federal list of endangered species. In 1987, the 17 condors remaining in the wild were brought into captivity and a captive-breeding program was developed.

The Oregon Zoo is a service of Metro and is dedicated to its mission to inspire the community to create a better future for wildlife. Committed to conservation, the zoo is currently working to save Washington’s pygmy rabbits, Oregon silverspot butterflies, western pond turtles, Oregon spotted frogs and Kincaid’s lupine, in addition to California condors. Other projects include studies on black rhinos, Asian elephants, polar bears and bats.

The Oregon Zoo opens at 9 a.m. daily and is located five minutes from downtown Portland, just off Highway 26. The zoo is also accessible by MAX light rail line. Zoo visitors are encouraged to ride MAX or take TriMet bus No. 63 to the Oregon Zoo. Visitors who take the bus or MAX receive $1 off zoo admission. Call TriMet Customer Service, 503-238-RIDE (7433), or visit www.trimet.org for fare and route information.

General admission is $9.75 (12-64), seniors $8.25 (65+), children $6.75 (3-11), and infants 2 and under are free; 25 cents of the admission price helps fund regional conservation projects through the zoo’s Future for Wildlife program. A parking fee of $1 per car is also required. Additional information is available at www.oregonzoo.org or by calling 503-226-1561.

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Oregon Zoo ̈ 4001 SW Canyon Rd. ̈ Portland, Oregon 97221 ̈ 503-226-1561

Contacts: Bill LaMarche 503-220-2448 (office) or 503-497-5812 (pager)
Linda D’Ae-Smith 503-220-5716 (office) or 503-441-7573 (pager)

The third egg to hatch produced a condor named Sespe (say “SESS-pee” ). She hatched May 25, 1983, and, at the time of her hatching, was only the 26^th condor in existence. Her parents were known as the Red Rock pair; mom is Tama (see her blog entry from April 7, 2008) and dad was a bird known as CCM (Castaic Creek Male). Sespe has spent the majority of her life at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park, but from 1984 to 1992 she lived at the Los Angeles Zoo.

Sespe was paired with a male named AC-4 for ten years. She has laid 19 eggs, resulting in 14 chicks. Three of her chicks are part of the captive breeding population: 1 at the Oregon Zoo, 1 at the Wild Animal Park, and 1 at the Peregrine Fund’s World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho. Five others are flying free as part of the release program: 1 in Southern California, 3 in central California, and 1 in northern Arizona.

Sespe is not currently in a breeding pair. In 2002, it was discovered that her genetic line was robust, so she and AC-4 were separated to prevent any genetic over-representation in the captive condor population. Two of Sespe’s sisters were also separated from their mates. In the future Sespe will be paired with another male to once again produce chicks to be released to the wild. For now, she is the star of the Condor Ridge exhibit at the Wild Animal Park. She lives with a male named Meymey and a juvenile male name Nikoy. Often, during the summer, Sespe will perch near the pool where she enjoys a shower from her keepers. Then, Wild Animal Park guests can truly appreciate a condor’s size when she suns herself afterward.

Next time you are at the Wild Animal Park, stop by to wish Sespe a Happy Hatchday as you witness a piece of living history of California and the Condor Recovery Program.