Rfalconcam Forum

Gymnogyps californianus

I just completed working on a project with Nova Productions Média, from Québec (www.humanima.com). Nova Productions is producing a documentary film series titled “Humanima” on three specific birds that occur in Utah: white-faced ibis, American white pelican and California condor.

We filmed California condors A3 and 89 at Lava Point on the Kolob Plateau near Zion National Park in southwestern Utah. You could see the wing markers placed on the soaring condors, as they kited on the wind and rising thermal currents. California condor with wing marker A3 (343) is a female hatched May 13, 2004, in captivity at The Peregrine Fund’s World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise. She was released at the Vermilion Cliffs in northern Arizona on Oct. 12, 2005. The other condor with wing marker 89 (389) is a male that was wild hatched on May 5, 2005, in the Vermilion Cliffs. He fledged on Nov. 30, 2005. His parents are California Condors 114 Male and 126 Female, residents of the Vermilion Cliffs in northern Arizona.

During the 50 years I have studied birds, I have seen ample evidence of a complex web connecting the ecosystem. There is a grand scheme at play. Some birds are pollinators, others insectivores; others cache nuts and other foods that when not recovered will grow into trees, shrubs and various other plants. Then there is the sanitation engineer, the California condor.

It is the largest flying bird in North America and is one of the most endangered birds in the world. The 109-inch wingspan makes it a superb glider. The condor rarely flaps its wings, except during takeoff and landing. This gliding ability conserves energy and enables it to cover great distances every day as it searches for carrion.

Since it is a carrion eater, its orange head is featherless. This prevents fouling feathers with bacteria as it puts its head into the carcass of an animal. These are enormous birds weighing between 15 and 22 pounds. Its feathers are predominantly black. You can see white wing linings as condors soar the skies of southern Utah.

The last nine remaining wild condors were captured in 1987. A captive breeding program at the San Diego Zoo and the World Center for the Birds of Prey in Boise has been successful in producing young. Several California condors have been reintroduced into California and the Red Cliffs of northern, Arizona. Several of the Arizona condors have moved north to more of their historical range in Utah. They now patrol the skies over Zion National Park and the Kolob Plateau in southern Utah.

Condors do not begin breeding until they have reached breeding age, 6-8 years. California condors released in Arizona have begun breeding and wild hatched condors have been produced. A California condor lays only one egg in a clutch. The young is dependent upon the parents for more than one year, and consequently condor pairs usually breed every other year.

Because they are scavengers, condors tend to be highly curious. They are attracted to human activity and tend to perch on power lines. These hazardous activities have resulted in the electrocution of several released birds and the poisoning of others (antifreeze ingestion and lead poisoning from hunter-killed deer and elk). Utah Wildlife In Need (www.UWIN.org) is funding a copper bullet to give hunters in the field in this area so they can enjoy their sport without the unintended consequences of lead bullets. California condors have been recaptured and re-released in more remote areas, and now all condors scheduled for release are given “aversion training.” The birds are provided with a choice of perches: natural snags and mock power poles. When they land on the power poles they are given a mild shock. They are also subjected to a series of human aversion exercises.

The California condor normally dominates other scavengers and usually does not hesitate to take a carcass away from smaller species. The exception is when a golden eagle is present. Although the condor weighs about twice as much as an eagle, the superior talons of the eagle command respect.

Bill Fenimore is owner of the Layton, Wild Bird Center, author of the U.S. series of Backyard Birds Guides and member of the Utah Wildlife Board.