released in 2022<\/a>, as part of the first group reintroduced in that region. <\/p>\nCondors are typically released when they\u2019re 1\u00bd to 2\u00bd years old, and generally don\u2019t start breeding until they\u2019re 6.<\/p>\n
The pair, formally known as A1 and A0, are the oldest birds from their release cohort at nearly 7 years old \u2014 and the only ones old enough to reproduce. <\/p>\n
According to wildlife officials, the couple may have laid an egg in early February, based on their activity tracked by GPS devices affixed to them. <\/p>\n
The egg cannot be seen or confirmed because the presumed nest is too remote. It\u2019s tucked in an old-growth redwood tree in the backcountry of the park, in Humboldt County, where there are no roads and a creek presents an impassable barrier, Williams-Claussen said. <\/p>\n
Condors generally nest every other year, and lay one egg at a time. Parents take turns incubating the egg, which is highly sensitive to temperature. Even a short loss of warmth can lead to death.<\/p>\n
Early April is the soonest the light-blue, roughly 10-ounce egg could hatch.<\/p>\n
Hopes are high but tempered; often a condor couple\u2019s first egg doesn\u2019t survive because they\u2019re still figuring out the care process.<\/p>\n
If the condors stop coming to the nest, it will suggest it failed.<\/p>\n
Even if the egg hatches, it could be a while before scientists can confirm a chick is there. It takes six or seven months for condors to fledge, or take their first flight from the nest.<\/p>\n
More than two decades ago, the Yurok Tribe decided they wanted to bring condors back to their ancestral territory in Humboldt and Del Norte counties, according to Williams-Claussen.<\/p>\n
In 2008, they received funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop a feasibility study, kicking off a 14-year process that unfolded before the vultures graced the skies in the region again. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe consider ourselves to be world renewal people, or fix-the-Earth people, whose primary purpose is to keep the world in balance,\u201d Williams-Claussen said. \u201cPost-American contact \u2026 our world became very out of balance, ecologically and culturally.\u201d<\/p>\n
The condor ties to that ethic.<\/p>\n
In Yurok creation stories, \u201cit was Condor who provided a song that we sing\u201d in what are known as world renewal ceremonies, she said. Condor also plays a role in carrying prayers for world renewal across the globe during the ceremonies.<\/p>\n
News of the recently documented breeding behavior has excited condor conservationists beyond Yurok country.<\/p>\n
Estelle Sandhaus, director of conservation and science at the Santa Barbara Zoo, called it \u201ca signal of hope\u201d for a population to be established in Northern California, part of their historic range. <\/p>\n
The Yurok-managed condor release program is the newest of its kind and the birds are relatively young, she said. <\/p>\n
Releases in Southern California, Central California, Mexico and the Southwest have led to nesting populations in the past, but this would be a first for Northern California. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs a biologist, when you look at reintroduction of a species, you look at survival, you look at adaptation on the landscape [and] you definitely look at breeding,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is a key milestone, and when it happens, it\u2019s reason for celebration.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are now more than 200 condors flying freely in the Golden State, including roughly 100 in Southern California.<\/p>\n
However, the vultures aren\u2019t yet out of the woods. Lead poisoning is the top threat, and most flocks remain dependent on captive breeding.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must get the lead poisoning down,\u201d Sandhaus said. \u201cThat is the path to recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A California condor known as Ney-gem\u2019 \u2018Ne-chweenkah\u2019 \u2014 Yurok for \u201cShe carries our prayers\u201d \u2014 has been flying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[230215,31333,19239,34495,230212,92241,222945,36929,42504,7234,127853,55049,79,201,230213,2394,230214],"class_list":{"0":"post-506230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-bald-vulture","9":"tag-behavior","10":"tag-california-condor","11":"tag-century","12":"tag-condor-couple","13":"tag-egg","14":"tag-first-egg","15":"tag-humboldt-county","16":"tag-nest","17":"tag-northern-california","18":"tag-other-animal","19":"tag-pair","20":"tag-science","21":"tag-wildlife","22":"tag-world-renewal-people","23":"tag-year","24":"tag-yurok"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}