Ironwing's most excellent condor thread

[IronWing]

I spent the last three days condor watching. I'm too tired to post much tonight but here's a teaser. I'll add more tomorrow.

#735, tag P5, a male hatched in April 2014 at the Los Angeles Zoo, released into the wild in September 2015.

 

[BoomerD]

Gawd they're ugly bastards. Vultures/buzzards too.

 

[Muadib]

Yikes!!

 

[SKORPI0]

Thought the thread title was "Ironwing's most excellent condom thread"........ disappointed.

 

[IronWing]

#496, tag H9, a female hatched at the Portland Zoo in June 2008, released to the wild in September 2011. She is the mother of wild hatched #952, to be seen later in this thread.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Those things are fugly but pretty cool. Amazing how large they are. Interested in seeing more pics!

 

[BudAshes]

I was driving down the coast in Big Sur several years ago and traffic had stopped, so I pulled over on the side of the road and got out of the car to see what everyone was looking at. The condors came soaring up the cliffs right over us gliding just a few feet away from us. Looked like a goddamn pterodactyl they were so big. Pretty terrifying looking up close even though you know they are harmless scavengers. Felt like they could pick you up and drop you off the side of the 200 or so foot cliffs that are right next to the road.

 

[IronWing]

This is baby, #952, blank tag (a numbered tag wasn't ready when he got captured), wild hatched March 2018 near Navajo Bridge, Grand Canyon, Arizona and wild raised by female #496, H9, above and male #354 (still to come). He was the first condor I spotted this trip. There will be more pics of him.

Juvenile condors have black heads. In addition to displaying the tracking numbers, the tags also hold radio transmitters. You can see an antenna hanging from his right side. Every condor is tagged and tracked.

He's somewhere on the bridge.

 

[IronWing]

This is baby running and flying...

after being chased off the bridge by #586, tag K6, a male hatched in 2010 at the Peregrine Fund in Boise, Idaho and released to the wild in March 2012.

Baby pouting.

Condors are very social birds and there is a definite pecking order on the bridge. Baby is at the bottom. Female #496 is at the top.

 

[mikeymikec]

My summary of this image:

 

[IronWing]

Mama taking flight

 

[Captante]

Awesome pics!

 

[Muadib]

Awesome pics!

You should have seen the owl thread. It was awesome too!

 

[IronWing]

This is dad, #354, tag 54. He was hatched in June 2004 and raised at the Peregrine Fund in Boise, Idaho and released to the wild in March 2006.

Mom and dad sitting on the bridge, wondering when junior is going to get a job.

Dad and baby snuggling before bedding down for the night. Condor parents, particularly the males, are very affectionate with their young.

 

[IronWing]

Condor in flight, 40MB gif

http://www.mineralarts.com/images/condorflight150.gif

 

[IronWing]

Male condor coming in for a landing after getting chased off the bridge by mama.

 

[IronWing]

Nine condors in flight, Vermilion Cliffs, Arizona

 

[Captante]

Male condor coming in for a landing after getting chased off the bridge by mama.

Wow that shadow looks like freaking Rodan!

 

[IronWing]

Dad yawning in the early morning light and people watching.

Baby catching rays on the cliff.

 

[Scarpozzi]

You should paint them and tell people you're a conartist.

 

[IronWing]

For @Red Squirrel in his snow storm…

Condors in the Arizona sun.

Mama, #496

Male #586

BTW, the 1000th condor chick hatched since the recovery effort started has fledged at Zion National Park in Utah. There are now around 500 condors in the world with about 250 in the wild, up from only 22 condors in the world in 1982.

California Condor Chick #1000 Fledges at Zion National Park - Zion National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov

Condor Recovery Program Confirms 1000th Chick - Zion National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov

 

[IronWing]

The Arizona - Utah California Condor flock is in peril (more than usual) from avian flu. A new avian flu is a catastrophe for the recovery effort. Action is underway to capture, treat, and isolate the condors.

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Confirmed as Cause of Three California Condor Mortalities in Arizona | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Marble Canyon, Arizona – Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) has been confirmed as the cause of mortality for three California condors found in northern Arizona, according to wildlife officials. The Arizona-Utah population moves throughout northern Arizona and southern Utah, using the...

www.fws.gov

H9, who is featured above, died in February. Necropsy results are not back yet to determine if she died of lead poisoning or of the new avian flu. Eight of the fifty birds I photographed in the past two years are dead.

Condor Crisis | The Peregrine Fund

www.peregrinefund.org

The California flocks are not impacted yet but the recovery folks there are prepping to rescue their condors. Zoos are quarantining their birds.

Ventana Wildlife Society

Founded in 1977, Ventana Wildlife Society is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization committed to conserving native wildlife and their habitats.

www.ventanaws.org

My last pic of H9, taken in October 2022.

 

[lxskllr]

:^(

 

[IronWing]

Also, over four hundred bald eagles and four hundred hawks of various species in the U.S. have been killed by the virus in the past 14 months.

 

[Captante]

I've been keeping one eye on bird-flu since mid Covid pandemic.... my concerns have only deepened.

This is some sad news and I suspect it will get worse before it gets better.