Condor’s Egg Is Big Step for Species
A California condor has laid an egg in the wild--the first in 15 years and a key signal that the giant bird that once hovered on the brink of extinction is strengthening its grip on life outside of zoos.
Discovery of the lone egg, found Sunday in a remote cave on a cliff in the northeast corner of the Grand Canyon, marks the first time since an ambitious recovery program began that the big vultures have successfully mated in the wild. Condors are bred in captivity in Idaho, San Diego and Los Angeles for release in Central California and Arizona.
“This is the first condor egg laid in the wild since 1986, and this is the first captive-reared condor to lay an egg in the wild,” said Jeff Humphrey, Arizona’s condor reintroduction coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The lone egg will not result in a condor chick; it was cracked and cannot hatch. Condors lay their eggs in shallow dirt depressions; it is not unusual for first-time mothers to damage them, Humphrey said.
It also is possible that the egg was compromised by DDT, which causes eggshell thinning and decimated bird populations in the 1960s. Humphrey said tests of that will have to wait because researchers do not want to disturb a pair of condors exploring the site as a potential nesting spot. DDT has been banned for years, but residues persist in the arid Southwest.
Nonetheless, condor experts said the discovery is a critical indicator that the condor is on the way to recovery. Until the birds reproduce and rear chicks on their own, condor survival will remain in jeopardy, and the species will be unable to sustain itself without human help.
The discovery also comes at an opportune moment for the condor restoration program, which has been under fire lately from some scientists who say too many of the birds released to the wild are dying. Despite aversion training designed to keep them away from people, condors have been killed by collisions with power lines, consumption of antifreeze and lead poisoning. Three condors perished in Arizona last year from lead consumption, presumably a result of eating a carcass contaminated with bullet fragments.
The egg was found in an area where two condors, one a female hatched from the San Diego Wild Animal Park and the other a male hatched from the L.A. Zoo in 1995, recently were seen engaging in courtship behavior, Humphrey said.
Odds are good that more eggs are on the way because the two condors have just entered breeding age, said Jeff Cilek, vice president of the Peregrine Fund, which manages the condors in Arizona.
“We’re very excited. I’m ecstatic. This is a major, major milestone,” said Susie Kasielke, curator of birds at the Los Angeles Zoo, where six of the 22 condors reared in captivity last year were produced.
Condors, the largest birds in North America, soar on 10-foot wingspans on warm-air currents that propel them across mountain ranges at 55 mph. They are one of the world’s rarest and most endangered birds.
Today there are 115 condors in captivity and 45 in the wild. The birds were released to remote, rugged mountains from Big Sur to Arizona. Scientists feed them and keep constant watch over them.
