Fall 2008 - Ventana Wildlife Society

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Celebrating the Survival of Three Wild Chicks Continued from page 1 fire, however, as the nest was located in a cavity at the top of a large redwood tree in a remote area that had been completely burned over. Checking on the chick required a helicopter and some serious climbing. I brought in climbers Joseph Brandt and Ivan Hartert from southern California to help me reach the nest and recruited pilot Jim Cheetam to fly us in on September 2, 2008. We are happy to report that all three of the chicks have now fledged. Based on blood samples, we know that the coastal chicks (470 and 475) are both males. However, the redwood chick (477) was way too scrappy for us to take a blood sample, so we’re still waiting to determine that chick’s gender. Although the flames had reached more than halfway up the 200-foot tree, the nest cavity was located at the top, and looked like it could have survived. After an hour of climbing, Joseph was able to peak into the nest and give us the good news—the chick was alive! I then climbed up to help radio-tag and vaccinate the chick, which we estimated to be about five months old. It’s unbelievable that the chick survived the heat and smoke exposure of the fire—truly miraculous. And thanks to Joseph, Ivan, and Jim for their invaluable assistance on this grueling house call! Climber Joseph Brandt prepared the five-month old miracle chick for its first check up and vaccinations. This chick was radio-tagged to monitor its movements due to the remote nest location. Notes From the Field, September 2008 By Jessica Koning, VWS Condor Field Biologist Collectively, condors live life at a relaxed pace. They spend most of their time idling in treetops, or riding gentle updrafts in slow circles in friendly groups of around eight individuals. Because they are so social, groups of condors routinely meander up, down, and around the Big Sur coast, like they are riding a gigantic carousel. It is no wonder that the official name for a group of condors is a “party.” The biologists on the condor project log many hours documenting this slow social whirl. Occasionally, though, we see behaviors that remind us that condor life isn’t always a party and these giants are not always gentle. Our adult condors are now beginning the breeding cycle, which will reach a fever pitch this January. Most of the year, condors are not territorial, but during the breeding season a pair of mated condors will vigorously chase away any intruders from their nest. Our condor flock is young, and most of our adults have mated only recently. In some cases, the boundary between one pair’s nesting territory and their neighbor’s is under dispute. Condors who genuinely enjoyed dining on dead sea lion together last month are now grappling viciously in midair, and appear to be earnestly trying to harm one another. It turns out that good fences make good neighbors whatever species you belong to. Bald Eagles Continue to Thrive Bald Eagles are once again soaring over Central California, thanks to decades of hard work by conservationists. In 2008, we documented a total of 23 Bald Eagle chicks raised and fledged in the wild throughout the Central California Coast Region (which includes the counties of Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Alameda, Contra Costa, and Santa Clara). This brings the total of known wild-raised Bald Eagles in the region to 143 since 1995. After a 60-year period that saw no breeding Bald Eagles on the California Central Coast, we now have a thriving, year-round population. The Bald Eagle population recovery is the result of the banning of DDT use throughout the U.S., strong protection of the birds under the Endangered Species Act, and regional release programs such as the one conducted by Ventana Wildlife Society. In August 2007, Bald Eagles were removed from the Endangered Species List after more than 45 years! Continuing thanks goes to all of our supporters and the hard work of our team. The success of the Bald Eagle recovery effort provides great hope that we can achieve similar successes with other badly depleted species, including the California Condor. ON THE WILD SIDE FALL 2008 4
The Condor Emergency Fund: Rebuilding with Your Support Rebuilding the Condor Sanctuary: One Step at a Time By Joe Burnett, VWS Senior Wildlife Biologist Executive Director Kelly Sorenson and VWS Board of Director Janet Shing gratefully accept a donation check from Ellie Kincaid and Joshua Littlefield with REI, Inc. With the community’s generous support, we were able to start immediately on the critical rebuild of the condor sanctuary. This fall Ventana Wildlife Society has been in a race against time to rebuild critical infrastructure damaged by the Basin Complex Fire. The response from around the country has been incredible and, with your help, we will be able maintain the momentum of our condor recovery efforts. This widespread support for VWS reminds us how quickly and generously the conservationist community comes together in times of crisis. Among the organizations contributing to the Condor Emergency Fund were the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the San Diego Zoo (already partners in condor conservation), as well as REI, Inc. and Mountain Tools. In addition, the donors listed below contributed $1,000 or more, and we want to offer our special thanks for their support. Total contributions received are listed along with all our donors on pages 10 and 11. Although the rebuilding effort is proceeding well, we still need additional financial contributions to return the VWS condor recovery facilities to their prefire levels and to continue our work building wild condor populations in central California. Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership! • BBR, LLP • Joyce Harris • Bill and Adriana Hayward • Margaret C and William R Hearst III • Jeanne Holmquist • Colleen May and Kerry Burrows • Shirley Nootbaar • Oakland Zoo • Oregon Zoo • Edward E Penhoet and Camille Stahl Penhoet • REI, Inc. • Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians • Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation • South Bay Bird Society • The Robert Stephens and Julie Packard Nonendowed Donor-Advised Fund at the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz Co • Linda Stevens • Frank and Barbara Strehlitz • Jean and Tim Weiss • West Valley Bird Society • Marsha M Zelus Late summer and fall have been a flurry of activity as we rush to rebuild key infrastructure at the VWS Big Sur Condor Sanctuary. Miraculously, our main cabin was undamaged, although the flames had clearly come within inches of the walls. However the fire destroyed just about everything else, including our beautiful new holding pen, a large aviary completed less than a year ago. Frustrating! This is where young birds from captive breeding programs are held and socialized before release– and it’s where our seven chicks and Hoi were housed when we rescued them. The first step was to clean up the fire debris and replace our solar grid and water system. The next priority was to rebuild the release pen, a smaller aviary that is also used to recapture condors for their annual lead-level testing and to hold any condors that require treatment for lead exposure. We expect to complete the release pen by Thanksgiving, and soon after we will be able to resume lead testing of the wild flock. At the same time, we are in the process of rebuilding (again) the holding pen, and we hope to have the new aviary ready by spring 2009. With the assistance of volunteers, such as those from the San Francisco Zoo, VWS’ fire clean up went smoothly and the rebuild was under way by September 2008. 5 ON THE WILD SIDE FALL 2008 www.ventanaws.org
Page 1 and 2: ON THE WILD SIDE Conserving Native
Page 3: Remembering the Big Sur Condor Resc
Page 7 and 8: Summer Programs Expand - With a Lit
Page 9 and 10: An Update on the VWS Bird Banding L
Page 11 and 12: Due to the number of generous suppo

Fall 2008 - Ventana Wildlife Society

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