Condors soar again over Northern California coastal redwoods

Wow, this is something they've been working on for a while, releasing these birds bred in captivity. They did it in the early '90's and now again they seem to have successfully released four birds in to a habitat they haven't been in for years. Yay?

I dig these nature stories of this sort, at least some humans are trying to fix things we've messed up.

indiancountrytoday.com...

REDWOOD NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — The endangered California condor returned to soar the skies over the state's far northern coast redwood forests on Tuesday for the first time in more than a century.

Two captive-bred birds were released from a pen in Redwood National Park, about an hour's drive south of the Oregon border, under a project aimed at restoring the giant vultures to their historic habitat in the Pacific Northwest.

The two male condors were moved into staging area at late morning and a remotely controlled gate was opened. After a few minutes of warily eyeing the opening, the birds stepped one by one through the opening, spread their giant wings and took off. "They just jumped up and took flight off into the distance," Tiana Williams-Claussen, wildlife director for the region's Yurok tribe, said in a webcast.

Condors were last spotted in the park area around 1892, authorities said. The California condor is the largest native North American bird, with a wingspan of nearly 10 feet (3 meters). The scavenger was once widespread but had virtually disappeared by the 1970s because of poaching, lead poisoning from eating animals shot by hunters and destruction of its habitat.

Thank you for such a good news post!

originally posted by: TheBoomersRBusted
Thank you for such a good news post!

Vultures seem creepy to people, but they truly do the Earth a service. Most of the US has two species. The Turkey Vulture and the Black Vulture. The black one is about a 4 ft wingspan and has the best vision to find the meat faster and they eat their fill. Then often the 6 ft wing spanned Turkey Vultures swoop in to finish off the carcass as the Black Vultures can't eat big bones. A Condor flock would dominate I would think when supper was discovered by one of the flock.

Thank you for this post. I’ve be only seen one once here in California, in Big Sur. I was so pissed at the moment because I couldn’t figure out why cars were literally stopped on Hwy 1 and people were out taking pictures. It was nuts.

They are certainly impressive and this is a great OP.

Side note: I’m no biologist, but are they releasing more or can two male California condors get each other pregnant?

Okay, I’ll leave now.

It's always refreshing hearing some good news instead of the doom and gloom we get bombarded with daily.
Thanks for posting it.

a reply to: TheSpanishArcher

I grew up in the sixties in Chino Ca.
They were large in numbers lining fences of the dairies and horse
ranches. Always thought it was odd how suddenly there were none.
No evidence of die off no carcasses at all anywhere.

Just gone

I've only seen a bald eagle once and I thought that was big! I got so lucky to be driving by a pond around Boston and saw a giant bird soaring over. Landed on a little island branch and never seen again. I'm barely in that area so I had such lucky timing. Bald eagles are not known for this area.

a reply to: Justoneman

Ron Magill out of Miami Zoo is always going on about the ecosystem, how just taking one animal out of it screws everything up so much. Seeing these guys get released is such a small step into fixing our environments but it's better than none.

a reply to: slatesteam

Seems three of four were male but they only released two of the males to see how they would do and then release the male and female later.

Two more condors were set to be released later — after biologists determine that the two birds who took to the skies Tuesday have displayed appropriate behavior, authorities said.

The condors, including one female and three males, are between 2 and 4 years old. Two were hatched at the Oregon Zoo and two at the Peregrine Fund's World Center for Birds of Prey in Idaho.

In the early 1980s, all 22 condors remaining in the wild were trapped and brought into a captive-breeding program that began releasing the giant vultures into Southern California's Los Padres National Forest in 1992.

That flock has been expanding its range while other condors now occupy parts of California's Central Coast, Arizona, Utah and Baja California, Mexico. The total population now numbers more than 500 birds in captivity and in the wild.

Two years ago, California condors were spotted in Sequoia National Park, in California's Sierra Nevada, for the first time in nearly 50 years.

However, that same year, a dozen adults and two chicks died when a wildfire set by an arsonist ravaged their territory on the Big Sur coast.

To everyone else, thanks. I also dig these threads that have nothing to do with how much the left hates the right or vice versa. I've got a couple more to get around to but I'm lazy. Someday and there's one about Northern Nevada toads that's pretty wild.

I've only seen seagulls the once in a great while I get to Cali. Not very majestic, they are just sorta there. One of the things about living in Vegas. The most exciting bird here is a mockingbird.

a reply to: TheSpanishArcher


I am an Environmental Chemist with a Biology and a Chemistry degree. My love for all this was inspired by Jacques Cousteau the famous ocean explorer. Also I am a student of how it plays out now. It is important to not forget the part where often another animal finds a niche when one species falls. What we have done in the past of denuding the land for resources is no longer the practice. If we would invest more in recycling we would save our ecosystem.

The Earth is truly a fantastic place that self heals. We just need to design our production and energy needs in balance with nature. It is do-able but some nations prefer to not practice what the USEPA has been preaching. I am not a huge fan of their overreaching that would be better served to also seek a balance. The idea is human health, but it is smart to think like you are and think overall health of the ecosystem.


Thanks for the link to such a cool story.

Very cool. Unreal that it's been 130 years since they've been there. When the uninitiated public starts spotting these for the first time, assuming they grow to full size, I wouldn't be surprised if some calls are made to report a dinosaur flying around

a reply to: Justoneman

Don't know if you are familiar with Ron Magill, mentioned above, and his endowment. Figured I could give him a plug anyway.

He's so cool on the crazy Dan Lebatard show every week and he's so passionate. I am too, but I'm a nobody who can just post an article here and there to raise some sort of awareness.

The ecosystem is so fascinating. Take just one animal, reptile, mammal, whatever out of the circle of life and it causes so many problems. People hate bats but they take care of the mosquito problem which is actually more dangerous to humans than bats lol. It all goes around which is why the recent loss of a bunch of bees in Atlanta recently was such a bummer.

We need them, even if they are pests, all of them. We just don't know much more than identify and destroy. Maybe, someday, we will learn how to live in nature instead of trying to make it into our "ideal" world.