California Condors - Christa Lam

California Condors (Gymnogyps californianus)

http://www.oregonzoo.org/gallery/tags/california-condor

The California Condor is the largest bird in North America. The largest adults can weigh up to 22 pounds and have a wing span of up to 9.5 feet. They are "opportunistic scavengers, feeding only on the carcasses of dead animals" (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).  Their head and neck are devoid of hair so that they can stick their heads into carcasses without mess. Ecologically, they are nature's clean up crew.  

https://sites.google.com/site/californiacondorks2014/endangered-species

They are native to the west coast, particularly California, Arizona, Utah, and Baja California. California condors live in a rocky, forested ecosystem which includes canyons, gorges, and mountains (Defenders of Wildlife). These birds were listed as endangered on March 11, 1967. And in 1987, the last of the free-flying California condor was captured to join only 26 others. In 1997, the first of the young captive-bred condors were released into the wild. Since then, intensive conservation efforts brought the numbers back up slowly. As of May 2013, there are approximately 435 California Condors where 237 of them are free flying (Cornell Lab of Ornithology).

https://sites.google.com/site/californiacondorct2014/habitat

The California condor was federally listed as an endangered species on March 11, 1967. Their recovery Priority was 1C and the objective was to downcast to threatened. 

Over time, a number of issues caused the decline of California condors including intolerance, egg collecting, indiscriminate shooting, and habitat loss. Today, lead poisoning is the main cause of California Condor decline. The high lead levels  of shot mammal carcasses that are later ingested by these birds causes lead poisoning (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). Fortunately, in 2008, the governor of California signed Assembly Bill 821 which is the Ridley Tree Condor Preservation act that prohibits the use of lead ammunition for big game and nonage hunting activists within condor ranges. And even more recently, Assembly Bill 711 in 2013 will eventually phase out the use of lead ammunition for all types of wildlife shootings (Kelly). 

The recovery plan was revised several times with the latest one from 1996. There are five main actions needed to fulfill the recovery plan: 1) Establish a captive breeding program to preserve the gene pool. 2) Reintroduce California condors to the wild. 3) Minimize mortality factors in the natural environment. 4) Maintain habitat for condor recovery. 5) Implement condor information and education programs. The recovery criteria includes a minimum of two non-captive populations and one captive population. The goal of the recovery plan is to downcast the California condor from endangered to threatened. 

Because the biggest threat to California condors is lead poisoning, the most simplest solution is to go hunting (if you hunt) without using lead poisoning. For hunters, it is important to use bullets that do not leave behind lead residues, and if there is no exit wound, make sure to find the bullet before leaving the carcass. Non lead bullets are better than lead bullets because it does not explode into tinier fragments upon impact, leaving a clean bullet path with no contamination. In addition, all copper bullets have superior penetration, power, and accurate. If you are not a hunter, it is important to support local bills like the ones proposed before and to donate to wildlife conservations that contribute to establishing these conservation efforts. 

https://www.fws.gov/cno/es/calcondor/CondorCount.cfm

Some other random fun facts! California condors:

1) have no vocal chords and communicate only by hissing and grunting. 

2) can live up to 50 or 60 years but none have been observed to live over 40.

3) mate for life and only raises about one chick every two years.

4) dominate over other scavengers except the Golden Eagle because of its impressive talons.

5) can survive 1-2 weeks without eating and when they find a carcass, can store about three pounds of food in their crop. 

6) featured on the 2005 California state quarter.

Works Cited

"California Condor." , Life History, All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2016.

Https://www.facebook.com/DefendersofWildlife/. "Basic Facts About California Condors." Defenders of Wildlife.          N.p., 19 Sept. 2016. Web. 27 Nov. 2016.

Kelly, T.R., Rideout, B.A., Grantham, J., Brandt, J., Burnett, L.J., Sorenson, K.J., ...Johnson. C.K. (2015) Two decades of cumulative impacts to survivorship of endangered California condors in California. Biological Conservation, 191, 391-399, doi;10.1016/j.biocon.2015.07.012

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1996. California Condor Recovery Plan, Third Revision. Portland, Oregon. 62 pp. 1-60