California Condors Taken to Safe, Remote Location : Wildlife: Four of the nine lived in Sespe sanctuary, where four others died of man-made causes. Keeping them in new habitat may be a challenge.

On a white rock outcropping high above the Cuyama Valley, 18 men and women on Wednesday carried nine endangered California condors to a new roost that biologists hope is far enough away from the hazards of civilization.

The birds, including four captured 10 days ago in the Sespe Condor Sanctuary near Fillmore, were taken to an enclosed compound on the remote ridge above Lion Canyon, deep in Los Padres National Forest in Santa Barbara County’s backcountry.

The other five condors came from the captive breeding programs at the Los Angeles and San Diego zoos. These fully grown fledglings, which have never flown, will be the first group to be set free Dec. 8. They range in age from 6 to 8 months and weigh up to 23 pounds, with 9 1/2-foot wingspans.

The four Sespe birds, which are all females and range from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 years old, will be freed to fly a day or two later. They were captured Nov. 7 and moved to the more remote Lion Canyon area, about 60 miles to the northwest as the condor flies, after four of eight birds released into the wild died from man-made causes in the past year.

On Wednesday, as a team of veterinarians readied medical supplies to test the birds’ health, the giant vultures waited quietly inside their large plastic carriers, occasionally scratching the side or grunting.

At 2:25 p.m., biologists opened the first bird’s cage, and four biologists quickly grabbed it by its beak, neck and body. With its red eyes blinking in the sun, the vulture sat quietly as biologists held it in their arms, checked its wings and prepared to take its blood.

A short time later, two biologists were injured when Xewe, the oldest Sespe condor, put up resistance to being handled.

“She was a feisty one,” said Marc M. Weitzel, project leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s Condor Recovery Program. The injuries, caused by Xewe’s beak, were minor.

Biologists said it would be ideal to hold the older Sespe birds back for a few weeks while the younger ones get to know the territory, and then stagger their release. That way, the biologists hope, the older birds would not return to their former home in the Sespe sanctuary.

But staggered releases would infringe on the program’s effort to keep the birds wild and never let them get used to human beings. “We don’t want them to see us placing food for them or monitoring their activities,” Weitzel said.

The older birds will dominate the younger ones, bumping them from favorite roosts and feeding first on carrion. They may also lead the younger birds in flight.

But if the four Sespe birds develop bad habits and lead the younger birds back to the Sespe, they will be captured and kept as breeding stock, Weitzel said.

The birds, which flap their wings only enough to catch a current for soaring, can easily fly as far as 100 miles a day.

To keep the carrion-eating vultures in the new Lion Canyon area, scientists will feed them their usual fare of calf carcasses nearby.

“If they do fly off to the Sespe, they will have to come back there to eat,” said Michael Wallace, biologist curator of birds for the Los Angeles Zoo and a member of the California Condor Recovery Team. “It’s like playing a little psychology with the birds to get them to behave the way we want.”

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Including the nine held at Lion Canyon, there are now 75 California condors alive, with 54 in the zoos in Los Angeles and San Diego and 12 at a third breeding facility in Idaho.

The California condor once numbered in the thousands and roamed from Canada to Baja California. During the Pleistocene Era that ended 11,000 years ago, the condors soared across the continent on both coasts, feeding on now-extinct animals such as giant sloths.

With only 22 or 23 of the birds remaining in the world in 1982 and 1983, scientists decided that captive breeding was the only chance to save the species. They captured the last wild bird in 1987 and made history in 1992 when two California condors again soared free in the wild.

Scientists chose the Sespe Condor Sanctuary for the birds’ home because it had the largest number of historic nests and roosts, which biologists believed would help the birds stay in the area.

The first two were released into the wild in January, 1992, along with two Andean condors to keep them company in the sanctuary. In December, 1992, six more birds were released.

But by November of this year, only four of the eight remained. The first one died in October, 1992, after drinking antifreeze somewhere near Pyramid Lake and two others died east of Fillmore after collisions with power lines or poles. The fourth condor died in another collision with a power line last month near Castaic Lake.

“The Sespe seemed like a good place to release the birds,” Wallace said. “We introduced 13 Andean condors over three years to that site and we only lost one,” he said. The Andeans were later captured.

Scientists are not sure why the area was safe for the Andeans and not the California condors. But they know that the California birds are very attracted to large bodies of water.

Wallace said the new site has a 100-foot cascading waterfall with a large pool at the top that should provide the birds an area for bathing and drinking.

The site, with its rugged hilltops and large plains with wheat-colored grasses, also provide good foraging grounds, Weitzel said. Well within the condors’ range, there are mule dear, some antelope and elk as well as rodents.

As the program continues, biologists want to reduce the amount they feed the birds and increase their reliance on their own foraging skills, Weitzel said.

At the Sespe condor site, power lines and oil drilling were visible nearby. At the Lion Canyon site, only the tiny town of New Cuyama can be seen 15 miles away. There is no activity in the area, except hiking and grazing.

“It is a much more ideal area for foraging,” Weitzel said. “It’s not perfect, but then there are no more perfect areas left in Southern California.”

Condor Transfer Four juvenile California condors from the Sespe Sanctuary and five chicks from the Los Angeles and San Diego zoos were transferred to Lion Canyon Wednesday. Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service