7 minute read
In Flight Entertainment
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PEREGRINE FOUNDATION
Saving the California Condor
BY HEATHER HAMILTON-POST
I am out of the office flying a California Condor chick from Phoenix to the e Peregrine Fund in Boise, read Don Reiman’s out-of-office reply.
One of the stranger automatic responses we’ve received, certainly, at once succinct and full of whimsy.
Reiman, who is President and Founder of Echelon Group, is also a private pilot who volunteers time to organizations that assist in transporting folks with medical needs. He works with The Peregrine Fund, a nonprofit organization that has raptor conservation projects all over the world, as part of his day job, so when he saw that they needed a pilot, it was an easy decision. He’s flown several missions in the past, including transporting falcon chicks, moving a condor egg, and flying adult birds ready for release, although this time, the flight was extra special—but we’ll get to that later.
For now, know that from tip to tip, a California Condor’s wingspan is about 9.5 feet, which is just over 2.5 feet taller than American former basketball player Shaquille O’Neal. Like Shaq, they rock a bald head, soulful eyes, and a smirky smile that suggests a certain willingness to see what comes next. Capable of living over 50 years, the California Condor is one of the longest living raptors in the world, assuming they can survive. A big assumption, as it were. In 1982, their numbers plummeted to only 22. Still critically endangered, the population now rests somewhere just over 500.
It turns out that there are a lot of ways for a bird to die.
Their primary killer—and reason they remain critically endangered—is lead poisoning. When hunters kill a game animal, like a deer, the bullet breaks up into tiny pieces. Should a California Condor happen upon these animal corpses, there’s a high likelihood that they’ll ingest led, which leads to led poisoning, which leads to death.
Leah Esquivel, who serves as the propagation manager for The Peregrine Fund, is in charge of all condor and falcon breeding. Since 2016, she’s worked for the organization, although she’s been fighting alongside California Condors for even longer.
“I got a degree in zoology and knew I wanted to work with animals, I just didn’t know in what capacity. My first internship was in California working with the wild population out there,” she said. “And I just fell in love with condors.”
She isn’t alone. Jane Naillon, Director of Brand & Communications at The Peregrine Fund, says they’ve become her favorite bird and definitely her favorite raptor. There’s something otherworldly about the enormous, quirky birds who delight in the feeling of sun on their backs and poop down their legs to stay cool.
And, although the state is doing a lot of work for the California Condor, they don’t live in the Idaho wilderness. Approximately 57 call the breeding facilities at The Peregrine Fund home, if only temporarily. See, for these birds, there’s a high likelihood of travel.
I think The Peregrine Fund is one of the most underappreciated assets we have and it is right here in Boise.
In March of 2023, the stark realities of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was settling into the California Condor’s Arizona habitat. The flu wiped out 21 birds, including Condor 316, who had just settled into her nest. The Peregrine Fund, a conservation group dedicated to preserving birds of prey across the world, captured her and attempted rehabilitation, but, at least in this case, was unsuccessful. Her partner, Condor 680, stayed in the cave, prompting additional exploration, which revealed an egg. Alone, he’d guarded it for around three weeks, a responsibility usually shared by both parents throughout the 57 or so days of incubation.
So, although they suspected the egg was likely dead, staff from The Peregrine Fund and Liberty Wildlife took it from the nest and transported it four and a half hours away. Against all odds, the egg was viable. But rather than risk transporting it to The Peregrine Fund’s Boise facilities and potentially transmitting HPAI, Liberty Wildlife hatched the egg in Arizona. On May 8, it pipped, but in the wrong place. When it was clear the chick needed help, Veterinarian Stephanie Lamb stepped in to help. Eventually, she held in her hands a baby condor, which tested negative for HPAI.
“So my partner Elizabeth Langley and I flew from Boise to Phoenix, where we picked up a veterinarian and a photographer and a seven day old condor chick in a tupperware container the veterinarian held in her lap with a heating pad,” Reiman said. “Four days later, we got an email saying that the adoption had taken place successfully and the chick was thriving and being fed by its new parents.”
Typically, Esquivel and her team are transporting birds from the breeding facilities (The Peregrine Fund is one of four) to the field sites, which happens every year as chicks come of age, or they’ll transfer eggs between breeding facilities for management reasons—one facility may not have enough pairs to raise a chick, for example. “We just want to make sure that all birds are being reared by condors rather than puppets,” she explained. “It’s a little more rare to have an egg or a chick come from the field to breeding facilities.”
Unofficially, the chick is called Milagra, which is Spanish for “miracle.” On the record, she is California Condor 1221, and Esquivel was happy to report that she’s doing great and acting like any normal chick raised by condors. Although early photographs of her at Liberty Wildlife with a stuffed animal are cute, it was a means to an end before she settled into her new, happy home.
Milagra’s foster parents have been together for a few years, although their union hasn’t produced a fertile egg. A blessing in disguise, because the male has other offspring and his genetics were overrepresented in the population. Still, the two of them are good parents, and have fostered other chicks into adulthood.
Esquivel described the two as “great together” and said that, like most bird species, California Condor pairs stay together for years. Males and females play equal parts in raising the chicks—males incubate eggs and feed the chicks too, and because of their long reproductive cycle, the chicks stay with parents for up to two years in the wild before the cycle begins again.
Milagra will likely be released into the wild, so she isn’t on display for the public-–only the propagation staff have access to the chicks, who maintain biosecurity and keep the birds wild. But California Condors are a sight to behold, and the World Center for Birds of Prey welcomes visitors to view the birds kept as future breeders on display at the center.
Massive efforts to rebuild the bird’s population have resulted in the number of wild California Condors outpacing those in captivity, which Esquivel said is the result of teamwork. “Nonprofits, government agencies, the Forest Service, normal people—all these sources of help coming together to help. It’s amazing.”
“I think The Peregrine Fund is one of the most underappreciated assets we have and it is right here in Boise,” Reiman said. “When you think about how rare California Condors are and the story behind this chick, it’s pretty special.”
To support California Condors, become a member of The World Center for Birds of Prey in person or online.
