When Peregrine Fund field biologist Sophie Osborn crawled into a cave in the Grand Canyon Sunday and looked around, she could hardly believe her eyes. Before her on the floor lay a single, off-white egg, a little larger than a baseball.
She tried to contain her elation until she and other biologists could confirm her discovery — the first California condor egg produced in the wild since 1986.
Osborn is Arizona field manager for the Fund's California Condor Recovery Project, located in Vermilion Cliffs, near Lees Ferry. The organization has been monitoring condor releases in the area since 1996, with the goal of establishing a sustainable population of the birds in the wild outside California.
Part of Osborn's job is to track the birds using radio telemetry, locating them via transmitters affixed to their wings. She had been observing recent condor activity in and around the cave and decided to investigate. The appearance of this first egg, five years after the project began, is the stuff of biologists' dreams. "It was a remarkable moment and an incredible thrill," she said.
The find marks a significant turning point in the project, although the egg she discovered was cracked and will never hatch. Peregrine Fund vice president Jeff Cilek said it was not surprising that this first egg was not viable, since this also happens with condors bred in captivity.
Condors breed at around 6 years old, and the female condor that laid the egg is exactly that age. Early spring is typical breeding season, and adult condors have exhibited breeding behavior for the first time in recent weeks. As far as Cilek is concerned, the egg is a sign that things are going well. "Everything is on track, and this is just the next step in the process," he said.
Osborn said she and other biologists are keeping close watch on another pair of birds that are showing nesting behavior, in hopes of finding a second egg soon. "It's such a ray of hope for the future of these condors," she said.
When biologists first reintroduced juvenile condors in the Vermilion Cliffs area, north of the Grand Canyon, the captive-raised birds had a difficult mission to accomplish — learning how to be wild again without the benefit of parental guidance.
Eighteen of the 47 birds released since the project began have died. Several succumbed to lead poisoning last summer after ingesting shotgun pellets, one was shot, some were killed by eagles and coyotes, and one died after a collision with a power line. Others died of unknown causes, and four have been returned to captivity after becoming too curious and friendly with humans.
Despite these setbacks, the birds continue to make progress. There have been numerous additional releases since 1996, including the most recent this past December, when 10 young condors were set free.
There are currently 160 California condors. Twenty-five fly free in Arizona, 24 are in the wild in California, and 111 live in captivity there.
Condors, the largest land birds in North America, have a 9 1/2-foot wingspan and are members of the vulture family. They do not kill their food but are natural scavengers and feed on dead animals. Condors are an ancient species whose range in prehistoric times included much of the west coast of North America, parts of the southwestern United States, and as far away as New York.
Human civilization eventually limited the birds to areas of California, and by the late 1980s, shooting, poisoning and loss of habitat brought them almost to extinction. Captive breeding programs have made it possible to reintroduce the species in Arizona and California.
In the early 20th century, Arizona was part of the condor's normal range. If future breeding attempts are successful, the chicks will be the first condors born in the wild there in almost 100 years.
California condors exist in Arizona as a "nonessential, experimental population" under the Endangered Species Act. The project is a joint effort between the Peregrine Fund, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Arizona Game and Fish Department, the National Park Service, and other partners.
The Peregrine Fund is a non-profit conservation organization based in Boise. To learn more about California condors in Arizona, see "Notes from the Field" on the Peregrine Fund's Web site at www.peregrinefund.org or call the fund at 1-208-362-3716.
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