NOW LIVE: Watch Endangered Wild California Condor Chick

Ithaca, NY & Fillmore, CA–People across the world can get up close and personal with an endangered California Condor chick in real time through live-streaming video of a wild nest in the Hutton’s Bowl area–a small piece of property surrounded by private land and overseen by the Bureau of Land Management. It’s near the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge in Ventura County, California. The chick and its parents make up one of the 12 California Condor nests in the mountains of Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Kern counties–the highest number of nests ever recorded in Southern California.

“Watching a condor chick and its parents in the wild is a unique and remarkable experience, and one that can be shared with millions of viewers through live streaming technology,” said Molly Astell, wildlife biologist with the Service’s California Condor Recovery Program.

The 2018 nesting season marks a significant milestone for California Condor recovery with more wild nests documented in Southern California than ever recorded. “Not only do we have more nests, but they are also spread out across a broader area, indicating that California Condors are expanding back into parts of their historic range,” Astell said.

California condor chick #923 hatched on April 6 and is being raised by 16-year-old female condor #289 and 13-year-old male condor #374. This is the pair’s first year to be featured on the live-streaming Condor Cam, and is the pair’s first attempt at raising a chick together, though both previously nested with other condors in the past.  The chick’s father, condor #374, has fledged 3 other chicks in the past with 2 previous mates. The mother, condor #289, has fledged 1 chick previously and has nested with 3 other mates.

Male California Condor #374 peers from a rocky outcrop in the wild, rugged mountains where he lives. Photo: USFWS. Download larger image.

Followers of the California Condor nest camera watched a chick hatch live in the wild for the first time in history from a cliffside nest at Hopper Mountain NWR in 2015. Since then, live-streaming video of California Condor chicks at the refuge has gained worldwide attention– nearly 2 million views from more than 190 countries totaling 34 million minutes, or 65 years spent watching the cams.

“Until now, only a handful of biologists had the privilege to observe wild condor nests. They had to trek into the remote backcountry and wait for days, sometimes weeks, at observation blinds located hundreds of feet from the nests to catch a glimpse of the birds,” says Dr. Estelle Sandhaus, the Santa Barbara Zoo’s Director of Conservation and Research. “Today’s technology allows researchers to observe a number of nests with high precision–and in high def. That enables more efficient nest management and research for us, and allows anyone with an Internet connection to share in the excitement of scientific discovery.”

Conservation efforts toward the recovery of the California condor are achieved only through partnerships among federal and state agencies, together with private land owners and organizations. The Hutton’s Bowl Condor Cam is made possible through access provided by private landowners, and through the financial and technical support of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Santa Barbara Zoo, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, Disney Conservation Fund, and Friends of California Condors Wild and Free.

In California, wild condors are found in the mountains of Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles and Kern counties, and most recently in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Tulare and Fresno counties. In 2017, California Condors were spotted roosting in the western Sierras for the first time in nearly 40 years.

The number of California Condors dropped dramatically in the mid-20th century, leading the Service to designate the species as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. By 1982 there were only 22 of the iconic birds left in the wild.  Today, due to intensive, ongoing captive breeding and recovery efforts led by the Service in conjunction with multiple public and private partners, the California Condor population has grown to around 470 birds worldwide, with more than half of the population flying free.

Watch condor chick #923 grow up on the live cam and fledge sometime in the fall. Photo: USFWS.

Today the number one killer of California Condors is lead poisoning, caused by condors feeding on carcasses containing lead bullet fragments. Peer-reviewed research shows that lead poisoning is a serious health problem for both wildlife and humans, and the Service is working with partner organizations and the hunting community as it transitions to the use of non-lead ammunition alternatives. Hunters are continuing their proud tradition of wildlife conservation by using these non-lead alternatives.

Another threat specific to condor chicks is “micro trash.” Micro trash are small coin-sized trash items such as, nuts, bolts, washers, copper wire, plastic, bottle caps, glass, and spent ammunition cartridges. Condor parents collect these items and feed them to their chick which can cause serious problems with the chick’s development. While it is not completely understood why this occurs, many biologists believe that the condor parents mistake these items for pieces of bone and shell which provide a source of calcium if fed to the chick.

“Last year’s breeding season culminated in the first condor chick to fledge successfully from one of our live-streamed sites, but because of  technical issues related to the fires, we missed that important moment,” says Cornell Lab of Ornithology Bird Cams leader, Charles Eldermire. “We’re hoping the stars align this season and we get to observe #923 taking that first leap from the nest ledge into the future.”

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To watch the Condor Cam, visit: www.allaboutbirds.org/condors

For answers to frequently asked questions about the nest cam, the parents and the chick, visit:https://www.fws.gov/cno/es/CalCondor/CondorCam.html