Posted on Jul 20, 2023
Critically Endangered, but Not Shy: Camera Spots Bunch of Condors Just Hanging Out | KQED
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Up in the higher reaches of the southern Sierra Nevada foothills, a cool piece of modern technology is giving a close-up look at an ancient marvel of California’s skies.
On Tuesday, a PG&E wildfire camera on a mountaintop 30 miles northeast of downtown Bakersfield captured a group of as many as 10 California condors roosting at a communications tower there.
One bird in particular, a 7-year-old female designated alternately as Condor 811 or “Lulutti,” put on a bit of a show. She stared straight into the camera at one point to show off her naked, wrinkled, pinkish-red head. Later, she displayed her impressive wingspan and jet-black plumage.
Another member of the flock, a 14-year-old male prosaically named Condor 509, eyeballed the camera as the sun rose over the Sierra Wednesday morning.
On Tuesday, a PG&E wildfire camera on a mountaintop 30 miles northeast of downtown Bakersfield captured a group of as many as 10 California condors roosting at a communications tower there.
One bird in particular, a 7-year-old female designated alternately as Condor 811 or “Lulutti,” put on a bit of a show. She stared straight into the camera at one point to show off her naked, wrinkled, pinkish-red head. Later, she displayed her impressive wingspan and jet-black plumage.
Another member of the flock, a 14-year-old male prosaically named Condor 509, eyeballed the camera as the sun rose over the Sierra Wednesday morning.
Critically Endangered, but Not Shy: Camera Spots Bunch of Condors Just Hanging Out | KQED
Posted from kqed.org
State of California
Wildlife
Birding
Bakersfield
Posted 10 mo ago
Responses: 2
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel I would love to see condors soaring! Hey, Mr. & Mrs. Condor, come to my place. I have plenty of carnage I can feed you from my taxidermy projects. You wouldn't have to search for food at all here!
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Despite the overall success of the program to date, it’s far too early to assume the California condor has been saved. In late 2020, the Fish and Wildlife Service reported that 309 free-flying condors had died since releases began in 1992 (PDF).
The cause of death is listed for 213 of those birds, and it’s a catalog of all the many ways our world remains hostile to fragile life: 11 condors were shot, 19 more ran afoul of power lines, 9 died in a Monterey County wildfire. More than half, 107, died of lead poisoning, generally assumed to be the result of eating dead game contaminated by lead bullets.
Climate change will also inevitably present challenging odds for condors’ long-term survival. And that’s not all: Federal officials are currently racing to test a vaccine against an unusually deadly strain of avian influenza that has spread through both wild and domestic flocks of many species of birds in California over the past year or so. The virus has already killed more than a dozen California condors.
So the condor’s future? Yes, uncertain.
Its present? We’re still checking on the view from Blue Mountain, and we’re still amazed at the enormous feathered apparitions that’ve shown up on camera."
..."Despite the overall success of the program to date, it’s far too early to assume the California condor has been saved. In late 2020, the Fish and Wildlife Service reported that 309 free-flying condors had died since releases began in 1992 (PDF).
The cause of death is listed for 213 of those birds, and it’s a catalog of all the many ways our world remains hostile to fragile life: 11 condors were shot, 19 more ran afoul of power lines, 9 died in a Monterey County wildfire. More than half, 107, died of lead poisoning, generally assumed to be the result of eating dead game contaminated by lead bullets.
Climate change will also inevitably present challenging odds for condors’ long-term survival. And that’s not all: Federal officials are currently racing to test a vaccine against an unusually deadly strain of avian influenza that has spread through both wild and domestic flocks of many species of birds in California over the past year or so. The virus has already killed more than a dozen California condors.
So the condor’s future? Yes, uncertain.
Its present? We’re still checking on the view from Blue Mountain, and we’re still amazed at the enormous feathered apparitions that’ve shown up on camera."
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