California Condor’s First Egg Breaks

A California condor egg was found broken Thursday in its parents’ nest at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, but breeders are optimistic that the pair will mate again, perhaps within a month.

Tom Hanscom, a park spokesman, said the egg was found in fragments at dawn, discouraging officials who, since the early 1980s, have sought to save the endangered species.

The good news is that the egg indicates “successful pair bonding” between Sisquoc and Tecuya, both hatched at the San Diego Zoo, Hanscom said.

“This being their first egg, it almost certainly would have been infertile anyway,” Hanscom said. “That’s not unlikely for first-time maters who have yet to reach sexual maturity. Once they do mate, however, it’s likely they’ll mate again quite soon. We could see another egg within 30 days.”

Sisquoc, the male, was born March 30, 1983, in the first hatching of the rare bird in captivity. His breeding partner, Tecuya, hatched six days later. The two were products of eggs that had been laid in the wild and artificially incubated at the zoo.

Hanscom said remnants of the broken egg will be sent to Lloyd Kiff, a specialist at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum, for analysis.

Hanscom said the egg broke during the night, so no one knows exactly how it happened. He said the birds showed no reaction to the egg being broken.

The two are among 32 California condors in captivity. Sixteen are at the Wild Animal Park, and the rest are at the Los Angeles Zoo.

Hanscom said three other fertile condor eggs at the park and Los Angeles Zoo remain in incubators, progressing toward spring hatchings. He said the goal of the condor-recovery program is to rebuild the species population to the point where the bird can be reintroduced into the wild.