Condors A0 and A1, in happier times. Video: Yurok Tribe.
The
first egg produced by the free‑flying Pacific Northwest condor
population appears to be unsuccessful based on an analysis of the
birds’ behaviors and flight patterns. However, the data are not
conclusive and may remain so for several weeks. Due to the
inaccessibility of the nesting area, observation of the parents’
behavior will continue for confirmation.
The
reason biologists with the Northern California Condor Restoration
Program (NCCRP) suspect the nest has failed is because the
prospective parents, condors A0 and A1, have spent an extended period
together far from the nest site, at a time when parental care of a
potential hatchling would be necessary for the chick to survive. Many
things may have gone wrong, ranging from an infertile egg to
inadequate incubation chilling the egg, to hatching failure. If the
egg failed to hatch, the pair could attempt to reproduce again this
spring, a process biologists refer to as recycling, or more likely,
they will try again next year.
“While
it is unlikely that a chick will fledge from the initial egg, we
remain pleased to have taken this first step towards successful
reproduction. We continue to hold a sliver of hope that it happens
this year and look forward to future attempts knowing that the time
will yet come when we have our first wild-fledged chick flying free
in our homeland,” said Yurok Wildlife Department Director Tiana
Williams-Claussen.
New
condor parents frequently face challenges sustaining their first egg
because of limited experience with the complex incubation process.
Even if the egg has failed there is reason for optimism, as condor
parents are far more likely to produce viable offspring the older and
more experienced they become.
“Compared
to their first breeding season, the probability of successful
incubation is substantially higher during condors’ second season
because they learn from their mistakes,” said Chris West, the
Northern California Condor Restoration Program Manager and a Yurok
Wildlife Department Senior Biologist.
Some
condors may initiate nesting at five or six years of age, but first
attempts at seven are far more common. It is promising that A0 and
A1, two seven-year-old condors, made a solid attempt at breeding. As
the oldest birds in the flock, they are leading the way for this most
recent addition to the roster of condor release sites.
Program
staff first noticed nesting behavior by condors A0 (Ney-gem’
‘Ne-chween-kah) and A1 (Hlow Hoo-let) in early February, although
actual confirmation of an egg was impossible due to the remoteness of
the nesting site. A0 would have deposited the egg within a cavity of
an old-growth redwood in the Redwood Creek drainage after months of
searching for the ideal location.
Free
flying since 2022, A0 (studbook 973) and A1 (studbook 969) were among
the first condors reintroduced to Northern California. Currently, 23
condors reside in the wild within Yurok ancestral territory. With a
goal of establishing a self-sustaining condor flock, NCCRP plans to
release at least one group of birds every summer for at least 20
years.
A0
or Ney-gem’ ‘Ne-chween-kah’, which translates to “She carries
our prayers”, was the only female in the first released NCCRP
cohort. Having hatched at the Oregon Zoo on March 31st of
2019, she is the oldest condor in the flock and was released at the
NCCRP site in 2022.
A1,
nicknamed ‘Hlow Hoo-let’, which means “At last I (or we) fly!”,
is 10 days younger than A0, and hatched on April 10th of
2019 at the Peregrine Fund’s World Center for Birds of Prey in
Boise, Idaho.
Condors
are slow to reproduce, with females laying only one egg at a time,
and usually nesting only every other year. Young condors take months
to learn to fly and rely on their parents for more than a year. They
do not reach sexual maturity until at least age five.
Most
commonly, condors stay paired with mates for successive years,
although a new partner will be sought if one dies.
In
general, condors begin breeding between six and eight years of age
and can live more than 60 years. The next oldest male and female
condors under NCCRP management are six-year and one-month-old male A2
(studbook 1010) Nes-kwe-chokw, and four-year and ten-month-old female
A7 (studbook 1109) Hey-we-chek’.
Northern
California Condor Restoration Program
The
Northern California Condor Restoration Program is a partnership
between the Yurok Tribe and Redwood National and State Parks (NPS).
The program has received funding from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Bureau of Indian Affairs, Administration for Native Americans,
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Global Conservation Fund, Redwood
National Park Foundation, and many small donations from the public.
The Yurok Tribe initiated the condor reintroduction project in 2008
as part of a long-term effort to heal the landscape within Yurok
ancestral territory, a landscape to which the health and wellbeing of
the Yurok people is inextricably connected. The restoration of
California condor, prey-go-neesh in the Yurok language, is a vital
part of this environmental and cultural revitalization effort.
Alongside condor recovery, the Tribe is also undertaking several
other wildlife conservation projects as well as implementing
large-scale fish habitat restoration throughout the Klamath River,
its tributaries, and the surrounding region.
The
NCCRP is part of the California Condor Recovery Program, which is an
international multi-entity effort, led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, to recover the endangered California condor by establishing
robust self-sustaining populations of condors within the historical
distribution.
If
you’d like to support the Yurok Tribe’s condor restoration work,
please visit this link.