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The newest bird on the brink to capture her fertile imagination is the CaliforniaCondor, on which she graciously shares her research and ruminations: Sometimes as a writer you recognize there’s been something overlooked in your midst—something quietly abiding. Condors, like all New World vultures, can disturb the human psyche.
Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) recently proposed reintroducing CaliforniaCondors in the Pacific Northwest. Although sometimes thought of a bird of the Southwest, the condor’s historical range reaches as far north as British Columbia. But condors have not been in the Pacific Northwest for more than a century.
As many birders know, the last wild CaliforniaCondors were captured by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) in the 1980s to be part of a captive breeding program. Audubon thought there should be some wild condors to serve as “guide birds” for condors that would eventually be released from the captive breeding program.
Osborn, a passionate field biologist who participates to the core of her being three re-introduction projects aimed at saving three very different, endangered species: Peregrine Falcon, Hawaiian Crow (‘Alala)*, and CaliforniaCondor. As of 2024, the ‘Alala are extinct in the wild though they live on in captivity.
The unrivaled aerial champions of the Americas have to be the two species of Condor, the one-time almost nearly extinct CaliforniaCondor and the truly massive Andean Condor. The CaliforniaCondor has a story well-known by anyone with an interest in birds. CaliforniaCondor , photo by Sheridan Woodley.
Then a little later there was a spot of bother with DDT, but we pulled out of that one ok, with a toolbox that would surely stand us in good stead if we only had the will to use it – legislation and literature, captive breeding programs, nest platforms. We could do it! Then the 80s happened. Or Bachman’s Warbler. Will it work?
Alas, although I was once a California boy, I have never seen a CaliforniaCondor. Zone-tailed Hawks breed in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, but they winter from Mexico to Brazil. Occasionally I have been lucky enough to see Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures in tropical Mexico.
There are many charismatic endangered birds that capture people’s hearts and imaginations: the colossal CaliforniaCondor , the evocative Red-crowned Crane , and the adorable Spoon-billed Sandpiper come to mind. Curassows are such stately birds. Photo courtesy of Ciro Albano.
With an 8 to 9 1/2 foot wingspan and weighing in at up to 30 pounds, it rivals the CaliforniaCondor for size and weight. They occur mainly in western and southern portions of North America, breeding inland in colonies on remote islands and wintering along warm southern coasts 1. During the day prey is probably located by sight.
There are many charismatic endangered birds that capture people’s hearts and imaginations: the colossal CaliforniaCondor , the evocative Red-crowned Crane , and the adorable Spoon-billed Sandpiper come to mind. Brood parasitism from Shiny Cowbird is also a major issue (42% parasitism rate if unmanaged).
These lands support countless birds, either year-round, as migratory stopovers, or as breeding grounds. Many refuges are strategically located along major flyways, allowing ducks and geese to hopscotch their way up the continent to northern breeding grounds and back down again. But what else should birders know?
Let’s call it the CaliforniaCondor exception. The reason we do not allow introduced species onto checklists until they are breeding and self sustaining for many generations is that without this rule you could go to a pet store, release a bunch of crazy colorful finches and count them all on your yard or state list.
Following passage of the United States Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966, the CaliforniaCondor ( Gymnogyps californianus ) was among the first 75 species listed for protection, the so-called “Class of 1967”. Reintroduction efforts expanded to Arizona in 1996, and later, to the Baja California peninsula in Mexico.
“So, for a relatively small contribution to habitat preservation, or captive breeding programs, or some minor climate change mitigation…” here a small covey of oil executives rustled and began to puff up, “really quite small, by your standards, you too could have a longspur. .” ” “No uggos.”
If they can spare a glance upward, the busy grape-pickers might also be treated to another portent of the changing seasons in the Iberian skies overhead: the sight of flocks of White Storks ( Ciconia ciconia ) heading south from their summer breeding grounds in Europe to Africa, where they spend the winter on the warm savannas.
Even though the female lays only two eggs per nest attempt, they enjoy a protracted breeding season in which multiple nesting attempts can occur every 30 days, and in Southern locations, nearly year round. North American breeding bird survey annual summary 1989, 3 US Fish & Wildlife Service.
And managing means killing them, breeding them, and otherwise fiddling with their populations. When I was asked if I wanted to read Jeff Corwin's 100 HEARTBEATS (Rodale 2009) I was ambivalent. I know he's a conservationist, therefore I know he will advocate for "managing" the "resources" that are sentient nonhumans.
There are sections, ranging in length from a paragraph to two pages, on taxonomy, bird names, habitat, ranges, migration, courtship and breeding, flight, bird intelligence, bird communication; identification; finding birds, life lists; optics and photography; ethics; bird feeding; and conservation. These are all informative and current.
such as CaliforniaCondors and Passenger Pigeons. And they were the ones who, at the end of the conference, decided to get together and talk about the possibility of breeding Peregrines in captivity as a way of at least saving the species from extinction.” She’s already written about Rachel Carson: Secret Birder.
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