A captive-bred male California condor that had recently been released into the wild was found dead Wednesday afternoon after an apparent collision with a power line near the Sespe Condor Sanctuary near the city of Fillmore in Los Padres National Forest, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported today.
""Power lines are a known threat to condors, especially juveniles who are leaning to fly," said Service biologist Mike Barth. "Condors dont expect to find power lines in their environment and so they dont detect them until its too late. The young birds dont have the flying skills to go into immediate avoidance maneuvers."
"The year-old condor was discovered by Service biologists under the power line at about 1:30 p.m. A necropsy is underway to determine the cause of death. Another 2-year-old condor that had also been released at the same time as the dead bird has been missing about a week.
"We dont yet know whats happened to the other bird. Its not a good sign when they disappear for this length of time," said Barth. All the released birds have radio transmitters attached to their wings and biologists have lost the signal. The bird has either flown out of search area or deep in a canyon where a radio signal cannot escape. "We havent given up hope by any means," said Barth."Im deeply saddened to hear about the death of the condor," said Steve Thompson, acting operations manager of the Services California/Nevada Operations Office. "We remain committed to working with our partners to establish a free-flying population of condors."
"The two birds are part of a group of six juvenile condors that were released May 22 by Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge complex biologists deep within the Sespe Condor Sanctuary, joining 28 other formerly captive condors already flying free in the mountains of California. The death of this bird brings the total to seven birds killed by power line collisions since captive-bred condors were released to the wild in 1992.
Condors are scavenging birds that soared over the Southern California mountains and other areas since prehistoric times but their numbers plummeted in the 20th century. The causes of their decline are not completely known but lead poisoning is believed to be among the factors. Condors were listed as an endangered species in 1967, under a law that predated the existing Endangered Species Act. In 1982, the condor population reached its lowest level of 22, prompting Service biologists to start collecting condor chicks and eggs for a captive breeding program. By late 1984, only 15 condors remained in the wild and six of them died within a short period, several from lead poisoning. Lead poisoning occurs after scavenging birds such as condors, turkey vultures, golden eagles and bald eagles eat the meat of dead animals that contain lead fragments from bullets. In 1987, the last of 27 California condors were removed from the wild and brought into the captive breeding program.
"The goal of the California Condor Recovery Plan is to establish two geographically separate populations, one in California and the other in Arizona, each with 150 birds and at least 15 breeding pairs. The Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge Complex manages releases of condors in Southern California.
