Biologists have spent 30 years painstakingly nurturing the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) back from the brink of extinction. They are America's largest land bird, with a wing span reaching up to 9 feet. Due to lead poisoning, the majestic birds' population had dropped to just 22 nationwide by 1982. In a desperate gamble to save the birds, federal biologists captured all the remaining wild condors in 1987 and began a breeding program in zoos. The birds' young have been gradually released back into the wild.
There are now 82 condors living free in the Big Sur area. Kelly Sorenson is the executive director of the Ventana Wildlife Society, a nonprofit group that helps lead condor recovery efforts in Big Sur. He told Paul Rogers at the Mercury News that biologists are hoping they won't need to go in and rescue the young birds from the nests. The chicks are 3- to 4-months-old and won't be able to fly on their own for another two or three months
"At this point it wouldn't make sense to pull the chicks out of the nests because we'd have to figure out how to raise them," Sorenson said. "We might do it as a last resort. We are going to be watching day by day." The chicks are still being fed by their parents.
Experts say that lead poisoning remains the main threat of condor deaths. Condors are scavengers and they eat deer, wild pigs, ground squirrels and other animals that hunters or ranchers may have shot, ingesting lead fragments from the ammunition.
Source: Santa Monica Observer, August 13, 2016
http://www.smobserved.com/story/2016/08/13/science/california-condors-i…
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