[TN-Bird] Condor Milestone

From: "Aborn, David" <David-Aborn@xxxxxxx>
To: "tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:55:57 +0000
27 April 2011
From CNN.

David Aborn
Chattanooga, TN

Almost 25 years after the California condor went extinct in the wild and 
dwindled to just 27 birds in captivity, North America's largest flying bird is 
on the verge of a watershed moment: Its total population is projected to hit 
400 this spring, including 200 birds thriving in the wild.

The projections come as curators are reporting a successful hatching season at 
breeding centers in California and elsewhere.


"At the end of the breeding season, we should be at 400 if all goes to 
projection," said Michael Mace, curator of birds at the San Diego Zoo Safari 
Park. "At the end of this year, we could have 200 birds in the wild. Both would 
be significant milestones."

The 400 mark hasn't been seen since the 1920s or 1930s, Mace said. The condor 
population is currently 394, including 181 in the wild -- a marked improvement 
since 1987 when the condor was wiped out in the wild and only 27 lived at the 
San Diego Zoo, he said.


The success hasn't been without new challenges. While the nearly 200 birds in 
the wilderness are resuming feeding activities last seen during the Lewis and 
Clark Expedition of the early 1800s, the condor is now ingesting the toxin DDE 
when eating marine carcasses, Mace said.

The toxin causes the shell of condor eggs to thin, so conservationists are 
replacing the thin-shelled eggs laid in the wild with thicker-shelled eggs from 
breeding centers, Mace said. The thin-shelled eggs are taken to incubators in 
breeding facilities for hatching, he said.

"Condors are doing what they normally do: They feed on marine animal 
carcasses," Mace said. "We are excited that condors are doing activities that 
Lewis and Clark observed more than 100 years ago. But it turns out these marine 
animals are feeding on DDE, and now the condors are feeding on them, and the 
shells of their eggs are thin and break." DDE is formed when the pesticide DDT 
breaks down. DDT is banned in the United States, but the chemical enters the 
environment through its use in other countries. "Some of these factors we're 
dealing with right now weren't factors five, 10 years ago," Mace said. For 
example, California condors are now being vaccinated for the West Nile virus, 
Mace said.

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[TN-Bird] Condor Milestone

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