5 more California condors released into wild near San Simeon: ‘It’s a good start’

On a blue-skied December morning high in the steep, craggy mountains above San Simeon, five juvenile California condors left their holding pen and took cautious baby steps as they enjoyed their very first taste of freedom in the wild.

These giant, critically endangered birds — which, at less than two years of age, are fully grown with 9-1/2 foot wingspans — were raised in captivity.

So it was thrilling for the Ventana Wildlife Society (VWS), a key player in the California Condor Recovery Program, to witness the Dec. 12 release go so smoothly.

The five birds released on that day join four juvenile condors released from the same holding pen on Nov. 19. Those nine condors released in the past two months join the San Simeon flock of 24 free-flying juveniles that have been liberated from that same holding pen since 2016.

More than 360 people from as far away as New Zealand watched the Dec. 12 release via livestream video — augmented by a Zoom dialogue led by Joe Burnett, lead biologist for VWS — as the first condor, No. 994, exited the holding pen shortly after 9 a.m.

The male condor is also known as Xakkin, which literally means “to eat ravenously” in Rumsen language.

Indeed, seven of the nine recently released condors have names that honor descendants of central California’s indigenous peoples — the Rumsen, Salinan and Esselen tribal communities.

Second to leave the pen, shortly after 9 a.m., was condor No. 974. As yet unnamed, the male as raised in captivity at The World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho.

Also raised in Boise was condor No. 990, a male, who departed the pen third on Saturday.

The other three birds released Dec. 12 were nurtured at the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

Fourth to exit the holding pen was a male, Xuchen (No. 956), which means “first” in the Rumsen language.

The fifth bird to fledge was a female. Sottow (No. 962), whose name means “black” in the Rumsen language, took her time “figuring it out,” Burnett said via Zoom.

Watching as Sottow inched toward the pen’s open door, then abruptly scurried away out of an apparent abundance of caution, Burnett said Sottow “is taking her good old time, which is just fine by me. She’s catching on that all the other birds are outside.”

In time, Sottow found her way to freedom. All five birds exited the pen in less than an hour, quicker than the four released in November.

Condors instinctively protect each other

Upon release, the juvenile condors almost immediately began feeding on the carcasses of still-borne calves. Burnett called that “supplemental food,” provided until the birds are mature enough to find carrion on their own.

While the feeding is taking place, older, mature condors keep a watchful eye on the younger birds.

“Condors of a feather flock together,” Burnett pointed out during the Zoom presentation. “They are so social. … They definitely want to be with each other. And there’s protection in that pattern.”

“When they’re in a group on the ground, there’s always a somebody on the lookout,” he said, watching while the younger birds pick away at carcasses.

“That’s always a great strategy,” Burnett continued, “especially if you’re a ground scavenger like the condors. There’s something hard-wired in them because they have to be very careful when they’re on the ground. They’re very cautious, very observant,” and of course, they are a huge target.

“If anything looks a little off, they hold off and watch,” Burnett explained.

“If there’s a whale carcass on the beach, and a condor is on a cliff watching, that condor will wait quite a while,” he said, because a coyote or other predators may be in the bushes watching too.

Nine giant birds perished in Dolan Fire

The nine Big Sur condors lost in the ferocious Dolan Fire cannot be replaced, but the release of nine birds in November and December was “the most direct way to address those losses,” Burnett wrote in an email prior to the Dec. 12 release.

The nine newly released juveniles theoretically replace the nine condors lost in the Dolan Fire. “But that doesn’t account for the tribal knowledge we lost with those nine condors and the impacts in reproduction — by losing three reproductively active adults,” Burnett stated.

“But it’s a good start either way!” he added.

In the meantime, the first four juveniles released in November “are doing great,” Burnett said. “All four are starting to make bigger flights and coming back to the release site on a regular basis.”

All recently released birds are equipped with GPS technologies.

In the long run, assuring the nine released juveniles remain healthy and avoid untoward events as they approach adulthood, means “further reducing lead in their environment,” Burnett asserted.

Hunters and ranchers can help reach that goal “by switching to non-lead ammunition, and many already have. Lead poisoning from ingestion of spent ammunition in carcasses is still the leading cause of mortality for free-flying condors,” he said.