Condor comeback continues with 5 more in fly pen

As the dramatic story of the California condor comeback unfolds — from the brink of extinction in 1982 to 230 giant birds flying free today (44 in Big Sur, 33 in Pinnacles) — a new chapter is being written here on the wild and scenic North Coast.

In addition to the seven juvenile condors released last fall — their 9 1/2 -foot wingspans dwarfing hawks and turkey vultures — five more juvenile condors have taken up residence in the fly pen (12 feet high and 18 by 18 feet square) that the original seven had called home for several months.

The newest five birds arrived in January and will be released “later in the year when the weather is better and the birds are ready,” according to Ventana Wildlife Society Executive Director Kelly Sorenson, who answered emailed questions from The Cambrian.

All five new birds — like the original seven — were raised in captivity, so this will be their first adventure into the natural world. Only one of the new condors has reached the age of 2 years; the other four are close to 2 years, Sorenson said.

The expectation is that the newest birds and the original seven will find mates and produce chicks in three years in the rugged, mountainous area where they were released, which offers ideal condor nesting habitat: rocky cliffs and remote caves.

There are eight males and four females, and Sorenson said it is “common for condors from different release areas to develop pair bonds and breed together.”

Certainly the dozen condors will, in time, make pilgrimages north to Big Sur, to network with the older birds, but history reflects that they are likely to return and call the North Coast their permanent home.

As of early February, only one of the original seven — Apollo, No. 718 — had flown north to visit with Big Sur birds; Apollo has traveled to Big Sur twice, and spent most of January there, Sorenson reported.

As to why several of the seven condors (Gymnogyps californianus) hang out on top of the fly pen that houses the five, condors are a highly social species, Sorenson said. That behavior “creates a more cohesive group. For the wild birds, it draws them in to socialize with the newbies. The captive birds in the fly pen benefit from getting an ‘introduction’ to the wild birds before they must fend for themselves.”

A recent rainstorm turned into snow at the altitude where the fly pen is located, coating the five birds with the white stuff; but Sorenson said the condors are not adversely impacted. They can “thrive in just about any temperature. … They just hunker down and wait it out.

“All of our condor release areas are higher in elevation since better flying conditions for young birds exist.”

Staving off extinction

The fact that a dozen condors will be soaring in the North Coast skies this year brings a powerful sense of environmental justice to those that helped reverse the condors’ looming date with extinction in 1982.

Among the biologists active in Condor research 34 years ago was Dr. Francis Villablanca, professor of biological sciences at Cal Poly.

“There was a lot of uncertainty, but I had hope and faith” that capturing the remaining 22 condors “was the right thing to do,” Villablanca said in a phone interview Thursday, Jan. 4.

However, those opposed to the captive breeding program showed “a lack of faith and a lack of trust,” Villablanca recounted.

“All of the folks in favor of the program thought that it had a high probability of being successful, and it was really the only hope of re-establishing the wild condor population.”

One particularly contentious point was how many birds actually remained in the wild at that time. Those opposed to saving the birds from extinction counted many more birds in the wild than those pushing for captive breeding.

Some were saying, “Hey, just let them go extinct because that’s nature and that’s what would have happened if humans hadn’t come along,” Villablanca remembered.

In retrospect, he continued, “We are glad we had faith in the recovery program and the captive breeding program. And even though we didn’t have all the evidence as to the cause of the decline at that time, we do now.”

Meanwhile, Steve Schubert represents the Morro Coast Audubon Society, has offered strong advocacy for the recovery program and has organized public events at the Hi Mountain Condor Lookout for many years. In a phone interview, Schubert said, “It’s exciting to know that condors are in our own backyard, which is their historic range both in the flight corridor and where condors once nested here in San Luis Obispo County.

“It’s exciting and thrilling,” he said, “to look forward to the day they return to those historic nesting sites” in the county. He hopes the arrival of 12 Condors will make the Hi Mountain Condor Lookout project and location (at 3,198 feet in the Santa Lucia Mountains above Pozo) “a little more relevant.”

Schubert and U.S. Forest Service biologist Kevin Cooper will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their founding of the Hi Mountain project in May of this year.

Reached by phone while vacationing in Arizona, Cooper said: “I’m just really satisfied and pleased that the Condor Recovery Program is still moving forward. Of course, after investing so much of my own career working toward the recovery of these magnificent birds, I’m just really happy that it’s working.

“It’s really important to get the population put back into the center of their range, in the Central Coast. They need to tie in with the Pinnacle birds and the Big Sur birds to the north, and with birds at Bitter Creek (in Kern County) and Hopper Mountain (in Ventura County).”

For more information about the Lookout anniversary event and the local recovery program, visit: www.condorlookout.org and www.morrocoastaudubon.org.

This story was originally published February 10, 2016 at 9:45 AM with the headline "Condor comeback continues with 5 more in fly pen."