March 29, 2024

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Answers to your questions in regards to the California Condor nest. If you’re searching for the reply to a particular query, kind control-F (command-F on a Mac) and begin typing in your search phrases to rapidly discover the reply.

About The Huttons Bowl Nest (2021)

How outdated are the adults and the way lengthy have they been collectively?
How are you able to inform which one is the male and which one is the feminine?
When was the egg laid and when did the chick hatch?
Where is that this nest situated?
Do the condors use the identical nest every year?
Has this condor pair been featured on Cornell’s Bird Cams earlier than?

About The Pole Canyon Nest (2019)

How outdated are the adults and the way lengthy have they been collectively?
What do their names imply?
How are you able to inform which one is the male and which one is the feminine?
When did the chick hatch?
Where is that this nest situated?
Do the condors use the identical nest every year?

About The Huttons Bowl Nest (2018)

How outdated are the adults and the way lengthy have they been collectively?
How are you able to inform which one is the male and which one is the feminine?
When was the egg laid and when did the chick hatch?
Where is that this nest situated?
Do the condors use the identical nest every year?
Has this condor pair been featured on Cornell’s Bird Cams earlier than?

About The Devils Gate Nest (2017)

How outdated are the adults and the way lengthy have they been collectively?
How are you able to inform which one is the male and which one is the feminine?
Where is that this nest situated?
Do the condors use the identical nest every year?
Has this condor pair been featured on Cornell’s Bird Cams earlier than?

About The Koford’s Ridge Nests (2015–2016)

How outdated are the adults and the way lengthy have they been collectively?
How are you able to inform which one is the male and which one is the feminine?
Where is that this nest situated?
Do the condors use the identical nest every year?
Was this condor pair featured on Cornell’s Bird Cams earlier than?
What was the destiny of earlier years’ nests?
Could this yr’s chick undergo the identical destiny as these from previous years?
What is the story behind the 2016 egg?
What if a predator enters the nest?

Adults

How huge are condors?
Do they mate for all times?
Which guardian sits on the nest?
How huge is their territory?
What do California Condors eat?
How far do they journey to seek out meals?
How do they get water?
Do they sleep?
Do they’ve a way of scent?
What predators are threats to California Condors?
What sorts of sounds do they make?
Why are they making hissing and grunting noises?
Why are there no feathers on that chook’s head?

Nests and Eggs

How many eggs do California Condors lay?
When do they lay their egg?
How lengthy does it take for the egg to hatch?
How huge are their eggs?
What is a “pipped” egg?

Chicks

Are you going to tag the chick?
Is the chick a male or feminine?
How huge is the chick?
How typically do they eat?
The chick appears hungry. Why haven’t the dad and mom fed it?
How outdated will the chick be when it leaves the nest?
When does the chick get grownup plumage?
Does the guardian take care of the younger chook after it leaves the nest?
How does the nestling get water?
The guardian has not returned. If the chick is ravenous will you rescue it?

Wing Tagging

What is a wing tag?
What do the totally different numbers stand for on the tags?
Are you recording the band variety of the condors visiting the cam?
Why are some tags on the proper wing and others on the left?
What info do you’ve in regards to the birds on the digital camera?

Conservation

Are California Condors endangered?
What can I do to assist California Condors?
How many California Condors are there?
How lengthy do they stay?
How many condor nests are there in southern California?
What is the California Condor Recovery Program?
Who is concerned within the California Condor Recovery Program?
What is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s position within the restoration program?
What is Santa Barbara Zoo’s position within the restoration program?
What is the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology’s position within the restoration program?
When was the primary California Condor launched into the wild?
How had been the condors saved from extinction?
How many condors had been left within the wild earlier than they had been saved?
If they had been raised in captivity and launched are all of them associated?

Cameras

Does the digital camera trouble the condors?
How lengthy will the digital camera keep on?
What kind of digital camera do you utilize?

About The Huttons Bowl Nest (2021)

How outdated are the adults and the way lengthy have they been collectively?

The dad and mom of the chick within the Huttons Bowl nest are mother #594 and pop #374. Dad #374 hatched in 2005 and mother #594 hatched in 2010. This is the pair’s first nesting try collectively, and they’re utilizing a nest cavity utilized in 2018 by #374 and his former mate. Female condor #594 beforehand paired with male condor #462 in 2018 and 2020, efficiently fledging one chick every year. This yr marks male condor #374’s sixth nesting try at elevating a chick; he has efficiently fledged 4 chicks in earlier years.
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How are you able to inform which one is the male and which one is the feminine?

In this nesting territory, male #374 wears a blue tag which represents the 300 studbook collection and feminine #594 wears a black tag which represents the five hundred studbook collection. The studbook quantity for the chick is #1075. When the nestling is 4 months outdated, he/she may also obtain a hand-crafted wing tag with a sewn-in radio transmitter. This tag will probably be black with white lettering.
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When was the egg laid and when did the chick hatch?

Female #594 laid the pair’s single egg on February 14, 2021. After 55 days of incubation, the chick hatched on April 17, 2021.
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Where is that this nest situated?

This condor nest close to Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge situated property managed by one other federal company, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
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Do the condors use the identical nest every year?

Sometimes. They sometimes nest in the identical basic space as condor pairs have a tendency to ascertain a nesting territory. Pairs will generally use the identical nest yr after yr however different occasions they’ll transfer to a brand new cavity inside their territory from yr to yr. This is a cavity that was utilized by #374 and a earlier mate in 2018.
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Has This Condor Pair Been Featured on Cornell’s Bird Cams Before?

Male #374 and his earlier mate had been featured at this website through the 2018 California Condor cam season. This is feminine #594’s first look on cam.
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About The Pole Canyon Nest (2019)

How outdated are the adults and the way lengthy have they been collectively?

The dad and mom of the chick within the Pole Canyon nest are mother #563 and pop #262. Dad #262 was laid in 2001 and was the primary viable egg laid within the wild because the reintroduction program started. He was truly one in every of two eggs laid to a trio (male #100 and females #111 and #108) however was introduced into captivity to make sure correct incubation. He hatched on the Los Angeles Zoo and was launched again to the wild a yr later in 2002. Mom #563 hatched on the Oregon Zoo in 2010. This is their first nesting try collectively however each have nested beforehand with mates who are actually deceased.
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What do their names imply?

The guardian’s names, or the truth is numbers, characterize their studbook quantity. Upon hatch, each condor is assigned a quantity which acts as a strategy to establish every particular person. Since 1983, each recognized condor has been assigned a studbook quantity in chronological order. The decrease the quantity, the older the condor. A studbook is a crucial software in scientifically managing populations of threatened and endangered animals and is up to date yearly to replicate new hatches, deaths, transfers, and releases. This info might then be used to handle the captive populations to attenuate inbreeding and develop populations to a sustainable degree. The California Condor International Studbook is maintained and ready by the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
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How are you able to inform which one is the male and which one is the feminine?

It’s very tough to inform males from females. In basic the males are barely bigger. The solely positive methods to inform the sexes aside are to see sure behaviors similar to copulation or egg-laying, or by utilizing a DNA check. Every California condor within the southern California flock has been tagged and sexed. In this nesting territory, male #262 wears a yellow tag which represents the 200 studbook collection and feminine #563 wears a black tag which represents the five hundred studbook collection. When the nestling is 4 months outdated, he/she may also obtain a hand-crafted wing tag with a sewn-in radio transmitter. This tag will probably be black with white lettering.
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When did the chick hatch?

The Pole Canyon chick hatched on April 10, 2019.
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Where is that this nest situated?

This condor nest is situated in distant canyon close to Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge.
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Do the condors use the identical nest every year?

Sometimes. Condor pairs will set up a nesting territory and sometimes nest in the identical basic space with a number of potential nest cavities. Pairs will generally use the identical nest yr after yr however different occasions they’ll transfer the nest location inside their territory from yr to yr. This explicit cavity has been used as soon as earlier than in 2008 by one other pair from which they efficiently fledged their chick. This #563’s second nesting try in Pole Canyon nest territory.
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About The Huttons Bowl Nest (2018)

How outdated are the adults and the way lengthy have they been collectively?

The dad and mom of the chick within the Huttons Bowl nest are mother #289 and pop #374. Both dad and mom had been hatched on the Los Angeles Zoo. Dad #374 hatched in 2005 and mother #289 hatched in 2002. This is their first nesting try collectively however each dad and mom have had earlier mates. Condor #374 first nested in 2012 and has had two earlier mates and a complete of three nests previous to 2018. Each of his prior nests fledged a chick. Condor #289 started nesting in 2008 with a complete of 5 prior makes an attempt with three earlier mates. She efficiently fledged one chick.
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How are you able to inform which one is the male and which one is the feminine?

In this nesting territory, male #374 wears a blue tag which represents the 300 studbook collection and feminine #289 wears a yellow tag which represents the 200 studbook collection. The studbook quantity for the chick is #923
When the nestling is 4 months outdated, he/she may also obtain a hand-crafted wing tag with a sewn-in radio transmitter. This tag will probably be black with white lettering.
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When was the egg laid and when did the chick hatch?

Female #289 laid the pair’s single egg on February 7, 2018. After 58 days of incubation, the chick hatched on April 6, 2018.
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Where is that this nest situated?

This condor nest close to Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge situated property managed by one other federal company, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
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Do the condors use the identical nest every year?

Sometimes. They sometimes nest in the identical basic space as condor pairs have a tendency to ascertain a nesting territory. Pairs will generally use the identical nest yr after yr however different occasions they’ll transfer to a brand new cavity inside their territory from yr to yr. This is a cavity that was utilized by #374 and a earlier mate in 2016.
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Has This Condor Pair Been Featured on Cornell’s Bird Cams Before?

No, that is the primary time that male #374 and feminine #289 have been featured on the California Condor cam.
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About The Devils Gate Nest (2017)

How outdated are the adults and the way lengthy have they been collectively?

The dad and mom of the chick within the Devils Gate nest are mother #513 and pop #206. Dad #206 hatched on the Los Angeles Zoo in 1999 and mother #513 hatched on the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise Idaho in 2009. This is their third nesting try collectively however they’ve but to efficiently fledge a chick.
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How are you able to inform which one is the male and which one is the feminine?

In this nesting territory, male #206 wears a yellow tag which represents the 200 studbook collection and feminine #513 wears a black tag which represents the five hundred studbook collection.
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Where is that this nest situated?

This condor nest is situated within the Los Padres National Forest close to Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge.
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Do the condors use the identical nest every year?

Sometimes. They sometimes nest in the identical basic space as condor pairs have a tendency to ascertain a nesting territory. Pairs will generally use the identical nest yr after yr however different occasions they’ll transfer the exact nest location inside their territory from yr to yr. This pair used this nest website throughout their first nesting try in 2015.
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Has This Condor Pair Been Featured on Cornell’s Bird Cams Before?

No, that is the primary time that male #206 and feminine #513 have been featured on the California Condor cam.
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About The Koford’s Ridge Nests (2015–2016)

How outdated are the adults and the way lengthy have they been collectively?

Previously, the California Condors nesting at Koford’s Ridge had been feminine #111 and male #509. Condor #111 is 23-years outdated and hatched on the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in 1994. Previously paired with #100 and #125, she has been breeding and contributing to the wild Southern California flock since 2001. Male #509 is an 8-year outdated wild-fledged condor and the offspring of dam #161 and sire #107. Condors #111 and #509 had been noticed courting in fall 2014 after the lack of #111’s former mate, #125. In late February 2015, they nested for the primary time collectively within the Koford’s Ridge territory adjoining to Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge.
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How are you able to inform which one is the male and which one is the feminine?

In this nesting territory, male #509 wears a black tag which represents the five hundred studbook collection and feminine #111 wears a purple tag which represents the 100 studbook collection.
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Where is that this nest situated?

This condor nest, referred to as the Koford’s Ridge nest, is situated within the Sespe Condor Sanctuary, Los Padres National Forest, close to Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge.
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Do the condors use the identical nest every year?

Sometimes. Since condors set up a nesting territory, their nests are sometimes in the identical basic space. Pairs generally use the identical nest cavity yr after yr and different occasions they transfer the nest location inside their territory. In 2016, #111 and #509 selected a unique nest cavity than the one they utilized in 2015. There had been two entrances to the 2016 cavity which supplied a variety of pure mild and made for a fantastic view through the stay streaming digital camera. While feminine #111 has nested in her Koford’s Ridge territory since 2004, this was a brand new nest cavity that had not been beforehand used.
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Was This Condor Pair Featured on Cornell’s Bird Cams Before?

Yes, in 2015 #111, #509, and their offspring #793 had been featured on the primary stay streaming digital camera from a California condor nest! On April 4, 2015, throughout a routine nest entry and egg fertility test, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists put in a nest digital camera which allowed the sector workforce to observe the nest remotely. In August, when nestling #793 was 4-months outdated, the digital camera went stay to the general public on Bird Cams.
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What Was the Fate of Previous Years’ Nests?

2016: In late September, only a few days after condor chick #815 fledged, biologists that had been monitoring the younger chook through radio telemetry recieved a mortality sign from the transmitter in its wing tag (indicating that the chick had not moved for 12+ hours). After monitoring the placement, the chicks’s physique was discovered alongside the steep slopes excessive above the nesting cavity, and the stays had been collected for a necropsy.

Scavenging that occurred previous to the restoration of the chick’s physique obscured any indicators of trauma or illness which will have given indicators to the reason for the chook’s demise. According to the outcomes of the necropsy examination, the chances that remained for the reason for demise included a fall from top, illness, or predation, with predation being the most probably contemplating the chook’s current historical past of regular flight exercise. An essential clarification is that the lead ranges within the chick’s liver and bone – which point out lifetime publicity – had been beneath ranges that will have required therapy, which signifies that lead poisoning was not the reason for demise. Some microtrash was current within the chook’s abdomen however was unlikely to have contributed to the chook’s demise.

2015: On September seventeenth, the inquisitive nestling, #793, was exploring the far reaches of the slender chute that’s the entrance to the nest cavity when it slid down and out of view of the digital camera. The chick remained on a ledge beneath the nest cavity for a number of days the place it was visited by its dad and mom but unable to climb up the steep slope again to the nest. Biologists had been monitoring #793 through radio telemetry and sadly detected a mortality sign (indicating that the chick had not moved for 12+ hours) on September twenty fourth. The chick’s physique was discovered and recovered beneath the nest cliff that very same day.

A necropsy was carried out to find out explanation for demise and the outcomes had been finalized in February, 2016. Lead poisoning was discovered to be the reason for demise for condor chick #793 as a result of elevated lead ranges discovered within the bone and remaining tissues. Despite the unbelievable efforts of the final 30+ years, there are nonetheless challenges to the continued conservation of the condors. Unfortunately, lead poisoning from the ingestion of spent ammunition whereas feeding on non-proffered carcasses is a serious ongoing concern for all California condors, together with these in Southern California.

However, looking and the depredation of wildlife and livestock present an essential meals supply for condors and different scavengers. The use of non-lead ammunition maintains the significance of looking and taking pictures as a standard and essential conservation software, whereas eliminating pointless impacts to scavengers. Learn about switching to non-lead ammunition.

Could This Year’s Chick Suffer the Same Fate As Those From Past Years?

There are at all times dangers when elevating a chick within the wild, and there’s no assure that anybody chick will survive to succeed in maturity. The juvenile stage is an particularly weak interval for California Condors, as was evidenced by condor chick #815’s demise in 2016. In addition to the fixed risk of lead poisoning, younger condors are inexperienced and clumsy fliers which might be prone to falling from excessive rocky ledges. As quickly as they depart the nest, additionally they change into targets for predators similar to bobcats, mountain lions, and Golden Eagles.

Lead poisoning stays the main explanation for mortality for wild California condors. In California, the Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act was handed in 2008 limiting use of lead ammunition for the take of huge sport within the vary of the condor. We applaud the looking group for taking this step to guard condors, eagles, and different scavengers. Unfortunately, exposures nonetheless happen and people exposures are linked to the usage of lead ammunition which contaminates a number of the carrion that condors eat. There are various components that contribute to the continued publicity of condors to guide through ammunition, which embrace problem in enforcement and wildlife poaching.

As a part of a Nest Guarding Program developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Santa Barbara Zoo in 2007, most wild Southern California condor nests are entered throughout essential phases of improvement to evaluate viability of the egg and well being of the chick. One strategy to measure well being is by taking a blood pattern which is examined to find out the chick’s blood lead degree. On August twentieth, 2015 when California Condor chick #793 was 4-months outdated, biologists entered the Koford’s Ridge nest to acquire a blood pattern, weigh the chick, measure the size of his rising tail feathers, sift the nest substrate for items of microtrash, and fix a wing identification tag with sewn in radio transmitter for monitoring functions submit fledging. At that point, check outcomes revealed that condor #793’s blood lead degree was not elevated.

California condors have confirmed to have the ability to tolerate excessive ranges of lead toxicity that will possible be deadly to different wildlife. In addition, they’re typically capable of masks indicators and signs of lead poisoning which makes it extraordinarily tough to detect visually or behaviorally. As with all wild condor nests in Southern California, biologists will monitor this yr’s Condor Cam nestling through the stay streaming digital camera in addition to by conducting routine nest entries which is able to embrace a well being examination and blood lead check. Additionally, focused nest entries might happen to answer issues recognized by means of monitoring and examinations.
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What is the Story Behind the 2016 Egg?

On March 2nd, a workforce of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists entered the Koford’s Ridge nest and candled the egg to test its fertility. The egg proved to be fertile and was estimated to hatch April 4th – sixth primarily based on its improvement at time of candling. Unfortunately, through the evening between March twentieth and March twenty first, the egg went lacking from the cavity. The digital camera was programmed to solely report throughout daybreak, nightfall, and sunlight hours so as hold reserve battery energy so the incident was not caught on movie. When the egg was seen lacking on Monday, March twenty first, a workforce of USFWS biologists rapidly mobilized and rappelled into the nest in an effort to change the lacking egg with a dummy egg. Wildlife Biologist, Eddie Owens, seen a moist space within the nest substrate and recovered a number of eggshell fragments. Our finest guess is that the egg was predated in the course of the evening.

Fortunately, feminine #111 entered the nest cavity as quickly as Eddie left and beginning incubating the dummy egg. Condor #509 additionally took turns incubating the dummy egg which gave the restoration workforce a possibility to exchange the dummy egg with a hatching captive-laid egg from the Los Angeles Zoo as quickly as one turned obtainable. On Sunday, April third, a workforce of USFWS biologists positioned a pipped captive laid egg from the Los Angeles Zoo within the Koford’s Ridge nest cavity. This is a tried-and-true method that enables wild condor pairs the chance to lift a chick and if profitable, to fledge one other chook into the Southern California inhabitants. We had been thrilled to deliver the general public this uncommon alternative to see a condor chick hatch on-line for the primary time!
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What if a Predator Enters the Nest?

Condors sometimes nest in cliffside and hollowed out tree cavities which might be tough, if not not possible, to entry by people with out climbing gear and ropes. However, generally condors choose nest cavities which might be accessible to terrestrial predators which might be expert climbers similar to bobcats, black bears, and mountain lions. After hatching, we are going to proceed to intently monitor the condor nestling through the stay streaming digital camera and newly positioned movement activated Bushnell sport digital camera that’s able to taking nighttime photos. We hope that no matter brought about the unique egg to vanish is not going to have an effect on the chick, nevertheless, as in all different wild condor nests there’s a probability {that a} predator may entry the nest or that it would fail as a result of different pure causes.
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Adults

How huge are condors?

California Condors are very giant hovering birds. They are about 4 toes lengthy with a wingspan of 9.5 toes. They sometimes weigh 17-23 kilos and males are usually heavier than females.
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Do they mate for all times?

California Condors kind very long-lasting pair bonds. A pair that has nested efficiently at the least as soon as may be very prone to stay collectively until one member of the pair dies. Raising a chick takes roughly 8 months from laying to fledging, and is so demanding that there’s an actual profit to a pair to having dependable timing and foraging success.
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Which guardian sits on the nest?

Both dad and mom take part equally in incubating the egg and feeding the chick. After the feminine lays the egg, the dad and mom take turns incubating whereas the opposite forages for meals. An incubation shift might final 1-7 days relying on the person chook.
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How huge is their territory?

Pairs preserve a nesting territory that vary in measurement from a sq. mile to few sq. miles in measurement relying on the topography. Condors have a a lot bigger overlapping dwelling ranges which might be hundreds of sq. miles yearly. A condor can journey as much as 200 miles in a in a day whereas foraging for carrion.
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What do California Condors eat?

Condors are scavengers that eat carrion of land and marine mammals similar to deer, cattle, pigs, rabbits, sea lions, and whales. Young are fed by regurgitation.
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How far do they journey to seek out meals?

California Condors can fly over 150 miles in a day looking for meals. Condors find carcasses with their eager eyesight (not by scent) by observing different scavengers assembled at a carcass. Once they land, they take over the carcasses from smaller species (similar to ravens and turkey vultures), however they’re tolerant of different condors and normally feed in teams.
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How do they get water?

Condors go to swimming pools, ponds, and waterfalls to get water and bathe. They additionally get water from the carrion they eat.
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Do they sleep?

Yes. Condors are diurnal like us. They sleep at evening, normally excessive up in a tree or cliff roost. Condors roost communally, typically gathering in teams at nightfall. To sleep, they lie inclined on their perch with their head tucked behind a wing.
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Do they’ve a way of scent?

Condors do not need a great sense of scent.
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What predators are threats to California Condors?

California Condors have few pure predators as a result of their measurement. However, giant terrestrial predators similar to mountain lions, black bears, coyotes, and bobcats have been recognized to hunt and kill grownup and juvenile condors. The Golden Eagle is the one chook that poses a risk to grownup, juvenile, and younger fledglings. As talked about above, condor eggs and nestlings could also be in danger to predation by terrestrial predators if the nests are accessible. They can also be in danger to predation by Common Ravens.
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What sorts of sounds do they make?

Condors are normally silent, however can problem quite a lot of hisses and snorts notably when defending nest websites. Newborn chicks hiss, wheeze, and grunt at adults.
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Why are they making hissing and grunting noises?

Condors are normally silent (they lack vocal cords), however can problem quite a lot of hisses and snorts notably when defending nest websites. Newborn chicks hiss, wheeze, and grunt at adults.
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Why are there no feathers on that chook’s head?

Adult California Condors have a particular pink head and neck that’s naked of feathers. That naked head is nice for retaining rotting meals from sticking to it because the birds eat. The pores and skin on an grownup condor’s head may categorical motivational states; for instance, it could actually flip a deep red-pink throughout courtship or when the birds are excited or alarmed. The adults even have a throat sac that they’ll puff out throughout courtship shows.
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Nests and Eggs

How many eggs do California Condors lay?

Female condors lay just one egg per nesting try and so they don’t at all times nest yearly. If a pair’s egg fails early sufficient within the breeding season, females will typically recycle by laying a substitute egg. Often, pairs will skip a yr in between breeding makes an attempt to offer prolonged care for his or her final offspring.
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When are the eggs laid?

Condors lay their egg between January and late May.
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How lengthy does it take for the egg to hatch?

Eggs hatch in about 54-58 days.
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How huge are their eggs?

California Condor eggs are about 4.5 inches lengthy and virtually 3 inches huge, weighing about 11 ounces. Condor eggs are pale blue-green when they’re first laid however over time they fade to white or creamy white.
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What is a “pipped” egg?

A “pipped” egg refers back to the technique of initially breaking by means of the shell with a tough projection on the chick’s invoice referred to as the egg tooth. The ensuing gap is the “pip” which the chick then enlarges to complete hatching. On common, condor chicks take about 3 days to emerge absolutely from the egg as soon as pipping has begun.
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Chicks

Are you going to tag the chick?

Yes. When the nestling is roughly 4 months outdated, skilled biologists will tag it in order that it could actually tracked after fledging. Every wild California Condor chick is given a single wing tag and radio transmitter.
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Is the chick a male or feminine?

We can’t inform the chick’s gender simply by wanting. The solely strategy to know a condor’s gender for positive is by DNA testing or, with adults, by observing habits (for instance, witnessing the feminine lay an egg, or seeing the male perching on the again of the feminine throughout mating). We sometimes decide the chick’s gender through the first yr through a blood check.
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How huge is the chick?

Upon hatching, nestlings weigh about 9 ounces. When they fledge, 5–7 months later, they weigh roughly 17-20 kilos.
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How typically do they eat?

Condor chicks are fed virtually each day for the primary two weeks of life. After that the chick will probably be left alone within the nest in order that each dad and mom can forage to satisfy the growing meals calls for of their chick. Feedings change into much less frequent within the latter phases of the cycle, with chicks receiving a median of solely about one feeding each 10 hours. Adults might keep away for 2-3 days because the chick will get older
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The chick appears hungry. Why haven’t the dad and mom fed it?

California Condors might journey greater than 150 miles to collect meals for his or her chicks. One of them stays with the chick consistently for the primary 3–4 weeks. As the chick grows, it wants extra meals. The dad and mom keep away for longer and longer, as much as 3 days. So hold watching—they’ll virtually actually come again.
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How outdated will the chick be when it leaves the nest?

Chicks take about 6 months to make their first flight. Some fledge a bit earlier or later
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When does the chick get grownup plumage?

At hatching, condor chicks have white down and bare orange-yellow heads and necks. The white physique down is changed by a grey down inside a number of weeks, and a brief grey down begins to develop on the pinnacle and neck by about 50 days of age. Juvenile feathers start to look at about 2 months of age, and the pores and skin coloration of the pinnacle modifications from a fleshy to slate grey at about 18 weeks, though some birds have pretty grayish head pores and skin from hatching. In the absolutely developed juvenile plumage, the invoice is black, the gray-black head and neck are largely coated with grey down, the iris is darkish brown, and a feather ruff on the base of the neck is nicely developed. The physique feathers are uniformly blackish, besides that many have paler brownish margins at their ends. The wing-lining triangles on the underside of the prolonged wings are principally white however are irregularly mottled with darkish brown and normally a darkish spot close to the physique.

During the chook’s fifth yr, a condor step by step achieves full grownup coloration, with head coloration step by step turning into full orange apart from a saddle of very brief black feathers in entrance of the eyes., The underwing feathers will change into much less mottled to pure white, and the bars on the tops of the wings change from mild grey to pure white. Over an extended time span the invoice coloration additionally modifications from black to ivory.
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Does the guardian take care of the younger chook after it leaves the nest?

Yes. Fledglings stay depending on their dad and mom for one more 6-12 months. The whole size of a nesting cycle is greater than a yr.
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How does the nestling get water?

Water is a part of the meals delivered by the dad and mom.
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The guardian has not returned. If the chick is ravenous will you rescue it?

California Condor nestlings have advanced to have the ability to survive days in isolation whereas dad and mom are foraging. While the younger condors on cam have skilled dad and mom that hold their younger well-fed, there’s at all times the danger of a guardian dying. Via nest digital camera, now we have noticed a single guardian proceed to take care of and fledge a chick after shedding its mate. If a condor chick was to lose each of its dad and mom, biologists will intervene to save lots of the chick. It will probably be faraway from the nest and transferred to the Los Angeles Zoo for care after which launched as a captive reared chook at about 1.5 years of age.
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Wing Tagging

What is a wing tag?

All condors are tagged with at the least one distinct coloration/quantity wing-mounted tags for identification within the area. Both #374 and #594 additionally put on GPS transmitters, which biologists use to trace their actions whereas they don’t seem to be on the nest. The transmitters may be seen on the wing simply above the tag quantity.

Condors can’t be given conventional chook bands as a result of they present a thermoregulatory habits referred to as urohydrosis, through which they drench their legs with their very own excreta throughout sizzling climate. This cools first their legs then their whole our bodies through cooled blood from the legs circulating all through the physique. Urohydrosis may be very uncommon within the chook world, being discovered elsewhere solely within the storks and sure boobies, and is likely one of the principal behaviors linking the vulturids to the storks.
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What do the totally different numbers stand for on the tags?

The numbers on the wing tags characterize the final one or two digits of the chook’s studbook quantity. Male condor #374 wears a blue tag with the quantity “74” and feminine #594 wears a black tag with the quantity “94” on it. Be positive to tell us for those who see any uncommon tagged condors visiting the nest!
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Are you recording the band variety of the condors visiting the cam?

Yes. It is nice to report the tags on the condors’ wings every time potential. You can tell us the tags you see by tweeting us at @CornellCondors. Don’t overlook to incorporate the California time and date. You may e-mail us at birdcams@cornell.edu.
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Why are some tags on the proper wing and others on the left?

Condors may be tagged on both wing. In the early days of the California Condor Recovery Program, each condor was tagged on each wings. Now condors in southern California simply put on one wing tag and it may be on both aspect.
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What info do you’ve in regards to the birds on the digital camera?

The dad and mom of this nest are condors #374 and #594, and they’re a newly established pair. The male, #374, was hatched on the Los Angeles Zoo in 2005 and has nested within the Huttons Bowl space since 2016. He has beforehand nested in an adjoining nest territory since 2012. He is an skilled guardian and has raised 4 offspring, three of that are nonetheless alive at present. His final two chicks had been raised in the identical cavity that you’re now capable of see in our live-streaming nest digital camera. Unfortunately, #374 misplaced his most up-to-date mate this previous yr.

The feminine, #594, hatched on the San Diego Wild Animal Park in 2010 and has raised two offspring in a nest territory adjoining to Huttons Bowl, one in every of which was the one chick to fledge in 2020. Her earlier mate, #462, continues to be alive and tending to their fledgling from final yr.

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Conservation

Are California Condors endangered?

Yes, California condors are federally listed as endangered and nonetheless one of many rarest birds on the earth. In 1982, the world inhabitants of condors reached a low of twenty-two people within the wild. A captive breeding program was began on the San Diego Zoo Safari Park adopted by the Los Angeles Zoo. By 1987, all remaining wild condors had been faraway from the wild. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with the assistance of many zoos and conservation companions, started reintroducing condors into the wild in 1992. Today there are greater than 400 condors in whole, with over 160 in captivity at breeding amenities or on exhibit on the Santa Barbara Zoo, Oregon Zoo, World Center for Birds of Prey, Phoenix Zoo, Chapultepec Zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and San Diego Zoo. Every yr, cohorts of captive-bred condors are launched into the entire wild populations. As of December 2015, there have been greater than 260 people within the wild in California, Arizona, and Baja California. The quantity has been rising steadily every year, as captive-bred birds are launched and wild pairs fledge younger from their very own nests.
Potential causes of California condor inhabitants decline had been quite a few and probably different all through time. It will not be recognized with certainty which mortality components have been dominant within the general decline of California condors but it surely was possible {that a} mixture of things had a compound affect on this species, which has a sluggish charge of maturity and naturally low reproductive charge. In the previous, condors had been killed for assortment or just shot and their eggs had been taken from nests by egg collectors. The species additionally possible skilled inhabitants declines as a result of secondary poisoning from predator elimination campaigns through the early settlement of the west coast of North America. The results of eggshell thinning are additionally considered a severe issue within the decline of California condors through the Fifties–Nineteen Sixties. However, these actions are now not counted among the many main threats.
Since reintroduction efforts started in 1992, causes of California condor mortality have been intently documented and the bulk decided to be anthropogenic. Lead poisoning is the main explanation for demise in free flying condors and microtrash ingestion is the main explanation for demise in chicks. Other documented causes of demise because the reintroduction of condors to the wild have included predation, energy line collisions, wildfires, and taking pictures.
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What can I do to assist California Condors?

Learning about condors and the pure world in and of itself is a contribution. Knowledge of how organic methods work and the life cycles of animals and vegetation helps information our society’s capacity to make good land administration choices.

Help from Home
Be a citizen scientist and assist condor restoration proper from dwelling. Go to www.condorwatch.org and assessment images of condors and report your observations. You will assist gather info from the images that condor biologists on a number of condor restoration groups may have entry to.

Understand the Role of Hunting
Viable, thriving ecosystems embrace checks and balances. Hunting has been a part of pure balances for hundreds of years, relying upon grazing and searching animals similar to the coyote and mountain lion. Scavengers like condors can profit from consuming the scraps that hunters or predators depart on the land.
Hunters that use nonlead ammunition stick with it the proud custom of wildlife conservation by stopping condors and different animals from being uncovered to guide, a poisonous substance. Visit Hunting with Non Lead for extra info.

Report Poaching
Poachers undermine sound wildlife administration, infringe on individuals’s privateness, and disrespect the great efforts of accountable hunters. If you’ve details about unlawful shootings or trespass, name the California Department of Fish and Game at (888) DFG-CALTIP (888-334-2258), or your native sport company.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Recycle what you’ll be able to and consider inventive methods to keep away from utilizing disposable merchandise within the first place. Not solely will you assist scale back power and useful resource consumption, however you’ll additionally scale back the possibility that trash will find yourself within the incorrect place. Because many species of wildlife, together with condors, can by accident ingest plastic or different trash, much less trash on the land equals more healthy wildlife. Extend the three R’s ethic to actions outdoors of your private home and have a look at what you are able to do in your group to cut back waste and litter. Volunteering to assist clear up litter from pure landscapes is a very efficient approach to assist wildlife.

Drive Safely
Thousands of animals die yearly when they’re struck by cars. Often, these roadkills are scavenged by different animals and generally the scavenger additionally finally ends up useless on the highway. Condors not often strategy roads, however vultures and different scavengers typically do. Slowing down and retaining a watch out for wildlife crossings are good for each wildlife and drivers.

Keep Wildlife Wild
Spread the follow of by no means feeding wild animals deliberately or unintentionally. Properly retailer meals and make it inaccessible to wildlife. Condors and different wildlife want to remain wild and never change into habituated to handouts. It’s unhealthy for his or her well being and modifications their habits negatively. If you see somebody feeding wildlife please kindly inform them why it truly hurts the animal.

Volunteer
There are many teams working to assist California Condors survive. Consider getting concerned with the group closest to the place you reside:

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How many California Condors are there?

Today, as a result of intensive, ongoing captive breeding and restoration efforts led by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service along with a number of private and non-private companions, the California Condor inhabitants has grown to only over 500 birds worldwide, with greater than half of the inhabitants flying free.
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How lengthy do they stay?

California Condors can stay very lengthy lives. We imagine that condors can stay upwards of 60 years or extra. As of 2015, the oldest recognized California Condor is 49 years outdated and nonetheless breeding efficiently in captivity on the Los Angeles Zoo. The oldest wild condor is 35 years outdated and nonetheless breeding efficiently in southern California.
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How many condor nests are there in southern California?

The variety of condor nests in southern California varies every year. In 2021, there are 12—probably 13—lively nests wild nests. All of those nests are situated in Ventura County within the rugged backcountry surrounding Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge.
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What is the California Condor Recovery Program?

The California Condor Recovery Program (Recovery Program) is a multi-entity effort, led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to recuperate the endangered California Condor. Partners in condor restoration embrace the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Arizona Game and Fish Department, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Utah Department of Fish and Wildlife, the federal authorities of Mexico, Los Angeles Zoo, Oregon Zoo, Santa Barbara Zoo, Chapultepec Zoo, San Diego Zoo, Oakland Zoo, The Peregrine Fund, Ventana Wildlife Society, Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, Yurok Tribe, and a number of different governmental and nongovernmental organizations.

The Recovery Program is now within the last section of restoration, specializing in the creation of self-sustaining populations. The Program is putting elevated emphasis on the captive-breeding and reintroduction of California Condors to the wild and the administration of that wild inhabitants. These efforts mix attempting to cut back the specter of lead with actively managing nesting within the wild to extend the variety of wild-fledged chicks.

The purpose of the California Condor Recovery Plan is to ascertain two geographically distinct self-sustaining populations, every with 150 birds within the wild and at the least 15 breeding pairs, with a 3rd inhabitants of condors retained in captivity. As the Recovery Program works towards this purpose, the variety of launch websites has grown. There are three lively launch websites in California, one in Arizona, and one in Baja California, Mexico.
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Who is concerned within the California Condor Recovery Program?

Three organizations participate within the Recovery Program: the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Santa Barbara Zoo, and the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology.
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What is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s position within the restoration program?

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge Complex (Complex) serves because the lead workplace for the Recovery Program and is one in every of many companions that help this multistate and worldwide restoration effort. The Complex has participated within the California Condor reintroduction effort since 1992.

The Service operates various totally different launch websites each on refuges and on U.S. Forest Service lands and since has launched condors from the captive breeding amenities yearly. The Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge Complex manages a reintroduced inhabitants of California Condors in Southern California. Bitter Creek and Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuges are the first administration places for the discharge, monitoring, and recapture of condors on this area. Over time, these releases led to the institution of the Southern California Condor inhabitants, the group of condors immediately managed by the Complex’s condor area workforce (area workforce).

Over the final 20 years, the sector workforce has been accountable for the continued monitoring and administration of the reintroduced inhabitants, working each on and off refuge. Today, two of the wildlife refuges from the Complex, Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge and Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge are the first administration places for the condor inhabitants in Southern California, which at present inhabits parts of Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angles, Kern, Tulare and Inyo Counties.
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What is Santa Barbara Zoo’s position within the restoration program?

The Santa Barbara Zoo has been a companion in condor restoration efforts since 1999. In 2007, the Service partnered with the Santa Barbara Zoo to create an intensive nest administration technique, the California Condor Nest Guarding Program. The program is modeled after a nest guarding program for the endangered Puerto Rican Parrot (Lindsey 1992) and combines monitoring nests with direct intervention to detect threats to thwart nest failure. The targets of the California Condor Nest Guarding Program are to establish the main causes of nest failure and to extend the variety of wild fledged condor chicks in Southern California.
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What is the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology’s position within the restoration program?

The WFVZ has a protracted historical past of contributing to condor conservation by means of academic applications, analysis tasks, and publications. Lloyd Kiff, Director of WFVZ from 1968-1994, was the primary chair of the Condor Recovery Team, and as soon as the WFVZ relocated from Los Angeles to Camarillo in 1992, conferences of the workforce had been typically held onsite. Ed Harrison, founding father of the WFVZ, supported Kiff’s and the WFVZ’s participation within the restoration effort, and it continues at present underneath the Directorship of Dr. Linnea Hall. WFVZ continues to obtain condor eggs and chook specimens for archiving on the museum; Dr. Allan Mee and Dr. Hall coedited the proceedings from a condor symposium on the American Ornithologists’ Union assembly in 2005; and the WFVZ is now collaborating with this system in internet hosting the antenna for the livestreaming cameras. In addition, Ed Harrison was one of many early naturalists to take intensive movie footage of condors within the wild within the Sespe Wilderness, and to supply a documentary movie with J. R. Pemberton within the Fifties, in regards to the wild habits of condors.
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When was the primary California Condor launched into the wild?

From 1987 to 1992, no California Condors flew free within the California skies. In 1992 captive-bred condors had been launched into the wild at Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge north of Ventura, with extra captive-reared birds added to the flock every year thereafter.
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How had been the condors saved from extinction?

In 1979, the “California Condor Recovery Program”, which nonetheless exists at present, was launched by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and in 1980, they and the National Audubon Society collectively based the “Condor Research Center” in Ventura. This middle centered on various areas: 1) figuring out an correct inhabitants estimate; 2) finding and monitoring lively nest websites to find out if birds had been reproducing; 3) figuring out feeding areas and sources of meals; 4) figuring out causes of mortality. The program additionally sought to provoke radio telemetry to precisely monitor condor actions and causes of mortality, and to establish key habitat areas for cover. Finally, it sought to ascertain a captive breeding program to construct the species numbers.

Unfortunately, varied efforts made by the California Condor Recovery Program within the 1980’s to assist save the wild condor inhabitants weren’t sufficient to reverse the decline. In truth, the decline accelerated throughout this time and by 1985 it was apparent that there was no chance of salvaging the wild inhabitants by any means. By 1986, all efforts had been centered on eradicating the final remaining condors from the wild for the captive breeding program. Surrogate research with Andean condors and different vulturids had given substantial encouragement that the California condor would reply nicely to captive husbandry and could be reintroduceable to the wild from captivity.

In 1987, the final wild California condor was taken into captivity to affix the 26 remaining condors in an try and bolster the inhabitants by means of a captive breeding program. The whole world inhabitants of the species was 27 birds, and all had been housed in two captive breeding amenities in southern California.
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How many condors had been left within the wild earlier than they had been saved?

The wild inhabitants of California Condors reached a low of twenty-two people within the early Nineteen Eighties.
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If they had been raised in captivity and launched are all of them associated?

It’s true that many California Condors are associated however there are devoted geneticists from Smithsonian Institute and San Diego Zoo Global that suggest captive breeding pairs and launch places in an effort to maximize genetic range. When the query of relatedness amongst people within the reducing condor inhabitants arose, San Diego Zoo Global used DNA fingerprinting methodology to research the extent of genetic range remaining within the inhabitants. The outcomes of their research, displaying three surviving clans, proved invaluable when choices had been made on pairing birds in spite of everything remaining people had been introduced into captivity. For a few years, San Diego Zoo Global Genetics group and the Smithsonian Institute have assisted the Recovery Program in its administration of untamed and captive California Condors.
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Cameras

Does the digital camera trouble the condors?

Adult condors normally ignore the digital camera. Chicks may be fairly cellular and curious—it’s possible that the chick will examine the digital camera sooner or later.
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How lengthy will the digital camera keep on?

The cam will stream throughout the whole nesting season. We count on this chick to fledge between mid-October and mid-November. However, even after fledging, it is not uncommon for condor chicks and adults to often return to the nest. So don’t be stunned for those who see the chick again on the digital camera after fledging.
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What kind of digital camera do you utilize?

The digital camera is an Axis P3367-VE. Check out the Axis web site for extra info.
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Source www.allaboutbirds.org