A Long Journey Home: The California Condor’s Remarkable Return to Southwest Utah By Thomas Lord  California Condor p. Monique Beeley The condor population probably reached its peak in the Pleistocene era, about 10,000 to 1.65 million years ago. There have been a number of fossils found in the Grand Canyon area from that time period, and historical sightings of condors in Arizona and Utah date as late as the 19th and early 20th centuries. Limited data exist on the numbers of condors in existence before the 1980's, mostly due to the difficulties inherent in surveying the widely traveling and already relatively uncommon species. It is certain, however, that the population crashed sharply in the 20th century, most likely due to direct and indirect human-related factors. Many condors were killed outright, eggs were collected, and others died of causes such as lead poisoning, which has become the most important issue of all. By the 1980’s, when it was determined that their number had dwindled to fewer than thirty, biologists took action by beginning a captive breeding program to supplement the plummeting condor population. Because the viability of the species was in such dire straits, by 1987 all condors in the wild had been captured and put into the breeding program in preparation for an eventual reintroduction, which began in California in 1992 and in Arizona a few years later. Biologists working for The Peregrine Fund, a nonprofit conservation organization, track the condors in the Arizona/Utah population very closely. They sometimes cover hundreds of miles in a day in an effort to document the movements and feeding behavior of the birds. The trackers have been doing this day in and day out since 1996, the year that the first group of captive-bred California Condors was released in the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument in northern Arizona. In exploring their new surroundings, some condors traveled as far as Colorado and even Wyoming in the early years of the reintroduction. When the birds found the Grand Canyon, it became clear that they would be spending a significant amount of time there. Beginning in 2003, a few bold individuals discovered the Zion area, and more have followed each year, with many birds spending most of the summer and part of the fall on the Kolob Plateau. Lying near the northwest region of Zion National Park, the Kolob Plateau rises from the striking, but spare, desert below and into a pastoral ideal. Sheep graze on rolling green alpine meadows, mule deer and elk browse in the aspen groves dotting the landscape, and one can occasionally find the tracks of black bear and mountain lions that forage below the towering rock bluffs. It’s not difficult to imagine why a condor might choose to settle here—with abundant food, safe perches, and topography and updraft currents sufficient to get a 20-pound-plus creature into the air, it has everything the large bird might need. California Condors are strictly scavengers, never killing their food, and feed primarily on the carcasses of large mammals. They need to eat only every few days, so the abundance of deer, elk, sheep, and other mammals in the Kolob region virtually ensure a source of food for a significant number of condors through the warmer months. As many as twenty-seven have been recorded in the area at one time, a particularly impressive fact when one considers that that constitutes about half of the Arizona/Utah population, and nearly one-quarter of the entire wild population!
This increased travel and expanded foraging, while wonderful to see in this relatively new wild population, requires increased vigilance on the part of Peregrine Fund biologists, due primarily to the threat of lead poisoning in the species. A percentage of the carcasses that condors find and feed on are contaminated with lead, usually in the form of bullet fragments. According to recently published studies (which can be found at www.peregrinefund.org), animals that have been shot with lead ammunition can contain hundreds of bullet fragments, ranging in size from microscopic to a few centimeters long. These fragments can exist in whole carcasses or in gut piles from field-dressed game, both of which have been documented on many occasions as feeding sources for condors. Ingesting just a few small fragments of lead may be enough to kill a condor and it is now known that other scavenging species, bald and golden eagles, turkey vultures and ravens can also be affected. Indeed, evidence suggests that lead poisoning was a significant factor in the most recent decline in the California Condor population, and will certainly be the most important variable in the current attempt at reintroduction. Although it is possible to treat condors for lead poisoning, it is greatly preferable to reduce the amount of lead available to them in the first place through the use of non-lead ammunition. Poisoned birds cannot always be captured in time to treat them successfully, and the effects of long-term lead exposure are unknown in condors. In addition to those practical obstacles, the goal of the program is to produce a self-sustaining population, one that is not dependant on humans to trap and treat them regularly. Non-lead ammunition is widely available, commonly loaded with a solid copper bullet, and biologists encourage hunters to use this high-performance ammunition in the condors’ range. Hunters have been overwhelmingly pleased with the performance of the non-lead ammunition, and have been very receptive to this opportunity to continue their long-standing tradition of wildlife conservation. As more and more people become aware of the issues facing the California Condor, biologists are optimistic that the magnificent bird will eventually thrive without the need for intervention. In the meantime, if you visit Zion National Park or on the Kolob Plateau, keep your eyes to the sky in hopes of experiencing the grandeur of this magnificent creature for yourself. For more information, contact The Peregrine Fund at (928) 355-2270 or on the web at www.peregrinefund.org |
