Birds

Birds

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Condor Chick: Lonely?

By
Ron Webb
– May 14, 2012Posted in: Animals and Plants, Birds, California Condors, Conservation, Conservation at the Zoo, Uncategorized

Saticoy continues to grow and thrive!

Some of our Condor Cam viewers have been worried that our growing chick, Saticoy, looks lonely and/or bored. California condors naturally have a one-egg clutch; in other words, there is never more than one chick in a nest. Although Saticoy may appear lonely to us, we need to keep in mind that his social requirements are much different from ours. Of course a human would be lonely being raised in isolation, but condors thrive in that situation: no competition from nest mates, ensuring plenty of food for growth; plenty of attention and preening and protection from both parents, facilitating the proper social skills for when it’s time to leave the nest; and reducing the amount of waste that can accumulate in a nest, reducing the possibilities for a parasite infestation.

Condor parents Sisquoc and Shatash visit Saticoy several times a day for feeding and social interaction, giving their youngster everything that he needs. If he was in distress, it would manifest in improper growth and unusual behaviors. Rest assured that he is in perfect health and showing excellent behaviors for a potential release candidate at this age, indicating to us that Sisquoc and Shatash are doing a textbook job!

As for giving him “toys” or enrichment items, the parents have provided several items in the nest for Saticoy to explore or play with: feathers, dried food items, bones, and cast hair pellets. We have seen Saticoy (as well as every other condor raised at the Safari Park) play with, sleep on, and re-distribute these items around the nest. Field observations have shown that condor chicks in wild nests in California, Arizona, and Mexico behave in the exact same manner. We don’t want to provide any unnaturally occurring items in the nest as playthings, as this would encourage him to seek out similar items if he is released to the wild, possibly putting him in harm’s way.

Please remember that we are trying to foster behaviors that wild condors would have: avoiding human activity and hazardous, artificial situations. Survival rates for condors that become accustomed to humans and human activity are very low. I hope you continue to enjoy watching Saticoy grow!

Ron Webb is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Read his previous post, Condor Chick: First Health Exam.

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2

Boy or Girl? Genetic Testing

By
Heidi Davis and Asako Yamamoto
– May 4, 2012Posted in: Animals and Plants, Birds, California Condors, Conservation, Conservation at the Zoo, Uncategorized

Saticoy's PCR products in an agarose gel

On March 10, thousands of Condor Cam viewers watched as an endangered California condor chick emerged from its shell. The chick, named Saticoy by an online vote, is still being followed by thousands of people on Wildlife Conservancy’s Condor Cam. As viewers watched the downy chick grow, many wondered if they should call Saticoy “he” or “she.” That’s where the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research’s Genetics Division comes in.

California condors are sexually monomorphic, and it’s not possible to tell the male and female birds apart. It is important for management purposes, however, to know early on the gender of a newly hatched condor. Initially, determination of bird gender involved a highly invasive examination, but genetics techniques have allowed for less invasive sexing since the California condor recovery program began in the early 1980s, and with current methods, we can determine a condor’s sex using only a small drop of blood, a feather, or even a piece of eggshell membrane.

Our Genetics Division has genetically determined the sex of over 170 condors hatched at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, as well as all other condors hatched at collaborating institutions or in the wild. But we don’t stop there. In addition to condors, we determine the sex of several other bird species for San Diego Zoo Global collaborative recovery programs, including San Clemente loggerhead shrikes and four species of native Hawaiian birds. This important practice supports animal care managers and field biologists in their efforts to develop sustainable populations of endangered species.

The process of sexing Saticoy began when we received a small blood sample from the chick’s first health exam performed by veterinarians at the Safari Park (see post Condor Chick: First Health Exam). Only a single drop of blood (about 10 microliters) is needed to perform gender determination using genetic techniques. First, the DNA is extracted from the blood cells by placing the cells into a tube, exposing them to enzymes, and incubating them in a water bath to release the DNA contained within.

After several steps of removing contaminants and washing the sample, pure DNA is available for use in the next step, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). During PCR amplification, only a small amount of the DNA is required to obtain millions of copies of a particular DNA region of interest, which can then be used for further analyses. Birds have a sex-determination system like the XY system of humans, but in birds, the females are the heterogametic sex with chromosomes ZW, while the males are the homogametic sex with chromosomes ZZ. In the case of sexing condors, we amplify a gene that is found in both males and females and is able to show variation in sequence length between the two female sex chromosomes.

The final step is to run gel electrophoresis to analyze the PCR samples. Here, DNA separates within an agarose gel depending on the size of the DNA fragment produced by PCR. The gene amplified from a female’s W chromosome is longer and produces a different size fragment compared to the DNA fragment produced by the Z chromosome. The males, therefore, show only one band while females show two distinct bands in a gel. As the gel picture shows, Saticoy’s DNA sample produced one band by PCR, and we can then say…it’s a boy!

Heidi Davis is a research coordinator and Asako Yamamoto is a research technician for the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research.

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5

Green Woodhoopoe: Quirky or Clever?

By
Mike Grue
– May 1, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Birds

Last week I wrote about two green woodhoopoes that had a curious behavior of feeding other birds (see post Green Woodhoopoe: Nature’s Room Service) Well, I have another story for you; this one involves another male green woodhoopoe feeding another bird that did not want to be fed!

A few weeks ago, my coworker Mark was tossing bugs to a few of the insect eaters in Scripps Aviary at the San Diego Zoo. He had the usual line of characters waiting for a cricket to be tossed their way: the long-tailed hornbill was patiently perched, the white-crowned shrikes made their boisterous appearance, and the racket-tailed roller was sulking on her branch. All was going well when suddenly the woodhoopoe male landed in the crowd of gathered birds. He already had a cricket in his mouth, so Mark could only guess that he might have been looking for his mate to feed. Instead of finding his mate, though, the woodhoopoe inadvertently landed next to the racket-tailed roller. Surprised, the roller turned, opened her mouth, and prepared to roundly scold the woodhoopoe. Only she never got that far—she was interrupted. Before she could berate him, the woodhoopoe had deftly shoved the cricket into her gaping mouth, flown away, and (probably) congratulated himself on a job well done!

Okay, enough of the anecdotes, what’s really going on here? Are green woodhoopoes just oddly obsessed with feeding other animals? The evidence to me suggests “yes!” But there may be a reason nature has given woodhoopoes this quirky characteristic. Woodhoopoes are cooperative breeders; this means that a group of 4 to 8 woodhoopoes (sometimes up to 14 individuals) helps to raise the offspring of just the dominant male and female of the group. Who are these helpers? Frequently, the helpers are the offspring of the breeding male and female. In the wild, the tree-cavity nests woodhoopoes need can be hard to come by. With a lack of nests available, many woodhoopoes help to raise their siblings instead of starting their own family. The helpers may not have the genetic success of breeding, but they do help to increase the success of their genes if they improve the survival rate of their brothers and sisters. As time passes, the helpers may inherit a breeding position from their parents or they may strike out on their own and try to find a mate and a nest.

You can probably guess by now why woodhoopoes have a tendency to feed other birds: these helpers bring a constant supply of food to their siblings! Feeding birds that are neither their offspring nor their mate is not just a quirky characteristic of the green woodhoopoe but also a means of their survival. How cool!

Mike Grue is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.

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2

Condor Chick: First Health Exam

By
Ron Webb
– May 1, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Birds, California Condors, Conservation, Conservation at the Zoo

Saticoy at 45 days old

On April 23, California condor chick Saticoy received its first health exam. We normally conduct this exam at around 45 days of age. The goal was to obtain a blood sample for our labs, administer a vaccine for West Nile virus, inject a microchip for identification, and weigh Saticoy.

The first step in this process is to separate the parents from the chick. Of course, the parents (father Sisquoc and mother Shatash) don’t want any invaders in the nest and do their best to defend the chick and keep it safe, as all good parents do. Adjacent to the flight pen, we have a shift pen, used to safely and calmly move large or dangerous animals from one area to another. We offer all of the condors’ diet in the shift pen, so Sisquoc and Shatash are very comfortable entering it for every meal. We shifted Sisquoc into the pen and kept him there until after the exam. From his shift pen, he cannot see the nest area, so he was unaware that we were even in his nest, thus keeping him very calm. He ate and waited patiently until he had access back into his flight pen.

Shatash was not shifted but instead was able to see us go into her nest. We posted one keeper in the nest entryway to keep Shatash out while another keeper entered the nest and covered little Saticoy with a towel. This is the first time that Saticoy had ever seen a person and was understandably nervous and defensive, hissing and lunging at the intruder. Once under the cover of the towel, Saticoy calmed down. The chick was then brought into the adjoining vestibule where our veterinarian staff was waiting.

First, the veterinarian obtained a blood sample from Saticoy’s leg. This sample was sent to the lab to make sure the chick is healthy. Also, our geneticists can determine if Saticoy is male or female from this sample. Next, a vaccine for West Nile virus was administered. This disease originated in Africa and was accidently introduced to North America by humans. North American animals, including condors, usually don’t have a natural immune response to the virus, so we are trying to give all chicks a head start. A microchip was injected under Saticoy’s skin. This chip is a form of identification. It’s the same kind of chip you can get for your dog or cat at the veterinarian. The veterinarian then gave a quick health assessment, checking Saticoy’s eyes, nares (nostrils), beak, feet, legs, wings, and abdomen. Lastly, we weighed Saticoy to make sure the chick was growing on schedule.

While the exam took place, a third keeper was able to enter the nest to clean the camera domes and make sure there were no hazards in the nest cavity. The whole exam, from capture to release, took only seven minutes!

Once the exam was over, Saticoy was returned to the nest, and Shatash was allowed to approach and check on her chick. As previously mentioned, Saticoy was rightfully disturbed by this process, despite our best intentions to minimize stress. Although we feel bad that Saticoy was so nervous, it is actually good for the chick that it was not comfortable in our presence. We have to keep in mind that we don’t want Saticoy to become accustomed to or feel reassured by humans; we want the chick to be a wild condor, uninterested and wary of humans, so that it may someday fly free in California, Arizona, or Mexico. Condors that show an affinity for humans seldom survive in the wild. For several minutes, Saticoy showed defensive posture, hissing at everything, even Mother.

Shatash slowly approached her chick and nervously preened it, eventually soothing it. That is the reason we shifted only one parent; we wanted the other parent present to calm the chick after the exam. About 10 minutes later, Saticoy was showing proper begging behavior, resulting in a feeding session from Shatash. With everyone appearing calmer, Sisquoc was let out of his shift pen. Approximately 20 minutes after that, he also went in to feed Saticoy. If he was alerted to our presence and was upset, he would have immediately entered the nest to check on his chick.

So far, the health exam looks to have been extremely successful. The blood work showed that Saticoy is healthy, and the veterinarian’s initial inspection looked great. The chick’s eyes and nares were clear, the feet, legs, and wings were solid, and vitality was strong. Saticoy weighed 7.7 pounds (3.55 kilograms) and was approximately the size of a bowling ball. Lastly, today we received the sex results from the Genetics Lab: Saticoy is a boy!

Ron Webb is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Read Ron’s previous post, Condor Chick: 30 to 45 Days. Watch the chick daily on Condor Cam!

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3

Green Woodhoopoe: Nature’s Room Service

By
Mike Grue
– April 24, 2012Posted in: Animal Stories, Animals and Plants, Birds, Uncategorized

“Stick with me, and you’ll never go hungry again.” ~Scar, The Lion King

There is a little bird with a loud, machine-gun-like call that has caught the attention of many visitors to the San Diego Zoo’s Scripps Aviary. With a dark, metallic blue body and a bright red bill, the quirky green woodhoopoe Phoeniculus purpureus is a colorful character in more than one way. Woodhoopoes are known for being loud, curious, and intelligent. What’s lesser known about this species, though, is even more fascinating!

Green woodhoopoes seem to have an almost comical need to feed other birds. You might say, “What’s so amazing about that? Most birds feed their mates and their young.” And right you are! But what I’m talking about goes way beyond just feeding a mate and offspring.

A few years ago, we had two male woodhoopoes in adjoining cages. They would talk with each other and sit near each other, separated by the wire of their enclosures. One day, Male A was to be moved into another aviary to get a mate and, we hoped, become a dad. To catch Male A, we tried luring him by putting his food into a catch box. Instead of having to go into the catch to get his own food, though, Male A simply called out and Male B passed his own food through the wire to his waiting friend! As you can imagine, it took some extra effort to catch Male A.

We finally caught Male A and moved him into the Scripps Aviary to await his new mate. While he was waiting, the curious woodhoopoe wasted no time getting to know his new bird neighbors. He apparently felt like our resident blue-breasted kingfisher needed some extra nourishment, because the woodhoopoe started bringing food to his new friend. In the wild, kingfishers sometimes feed their mate, but I can’t imagine what our kingfisher thought about this “friendly” bird trying to cram bugs into his face! Many times I’ve seen the woodhoopoe fly down to a pan, grab a cricket, and fly off in search of his buddy who, in Male A’s mind, must be starving! Male A eventually left the kingfisher alone…but only after he met the new female woodhoopoe, who appreciated all of his hard work. Male A became a devoted mate and subsequently a devoted father. He may not have “brought home the bacon,” but he definitely brought home the crickets.

If that were the end of the story, I might think that maybe Male A and Male B were just oddballs. But a year has gone by since Male A’s story, and we have a new woodhoopoe in Scripps Aviary, Male C, who has a tale all of his own. Stay tuned for the next installment where I’ll share Male C’s story and talk about the green woodhoopoe’s interesting breeding strategy, one that may shed some light on why these birds may have such interesting feeding behaviors.

Mike Grue is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo. Read his previous post, Flamingo Round-up: Inside Look.

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5

Condor Chick: 30 to 45 Days

By
Ron Webb
– April 20, 2012Posted in: Animals and Plants, Birds, California Condors, Conservation, Conservation at the Zoo, Uncategorized

Flashback: This chick, similar in age to Saticoy, was hand-raised in 2001. It was the 100th chick to hatch at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

See Ron’s previous post, Condor Chick: 1 to 3 Weeks.

At approximately 1 month of age, California condor chick Saticoy should weigh around 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms). The parents, Sisquoc and Shatash, may start leaving the chick alone overnight while they sleep near the nest. If the weather is still cool or it’s raining, the parents may continue to brood overnight until the weather improves. Even though the parents are increasing their time away from the chick (and hence, Condor Cam), they remain VERY vigilant and protective of their nest and, especially, their chick. Some field biologists have even seen wild condor parents chasing black bears away from the nest area!

Up until now, the chick has been scooting around the nest on its tarsal joints. We refer to that as a “tarsal crawl.” It’s not uncommon, at this age, to see the chick standing all the way up on its feet, teetering around the nest, holding its wings out for balance. As its legs get sturdier, the chick may even approach the parent, begging for food. The “wing-begging” behavior we’ve been seeing will get more pronounced: lots of wing-flapping and head-bobbing as it tries to position itself in front of the parent.

It is possible that the parents, who are offering larger quantities of food per feeding session, might be providing a small amount of fur/hair in the chick’s diet; part of the adults’ diet includes rats and rabbits. Condors can digest just about every part of the animal they eat, except for fur. This fur accumulates in the digestive tract and is eventually regurgitated as waste. We refer to this as casting. A condor’s cast is composed of predominantly fur, whereas a cast from an owl has fur and bones; owls can’t digest bones, but condors can. We have seen condor chicks as young as three weeks cast hair pellets. When the chick casts, it throws its head forward several times, mouth open, until the pellet is ejected from its mouth. It can look like the chick is in trouble, but it is perfectly normal and good for the chick.

At 44 days of age (April 23), Saticoy will get his/her first health exam at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. We will obtain a blood sample to make sure the chick is healthy and send a portion of this sample to our Genetics Division, who can determine if Saticoy is male or female. Also, during the exam we will weigh Saticoy and inject a transponder chip as a form of identification. It’s the same kind of chip you can get for your dog or cat at the veterinarian. Most importantly, this exam allows us to administer a vaccine for West Nile virus, a disease that originated in Africa and was accidently introduced to North America by humans. North American animals, including condors, usually don’t have a natural immune response to West Nile virus, so we try to give the chicks as much of a head start as we can.

This exam will be the first time that Saticoy will see humans, so it will naturally be disturbing for the chick. We try to be quick (9 to 10 minutes) to minimize the disturbance. Additionally, we will keep Saticoy covered with a towel to reduce exposure to humans and to provide a bit of security. Sisquoc and Shatash are usually away from the nest when we perform the procedure in order to keep them as calm as possible. We don’t want Saticoy to become accustomed to or feel reassured by our presence; we want this chick to be a wild condor, uninterested and wary of humans, so that it may someday fly free in California, Arizona, or Mexico.

Saticoy will look very large at this age compared to how big the chick was at hatch, but remember that this little one is still less than half of her/his adult weight. There is much more growth and fun to come!

Ron Webb is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

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4

Chick Watching: 1 to 3 Weeks

By
Ron Webb
– April 5, 2012Posted in: Animals and Plants, Birds, California Condors, Conservation, Conservation at the Zoo

A screen-capture image of our chick at 3 weeks.

See Ron’s previous post, Chick Watching: Hatch to 1 Week

At two to three weeks of age, the real fun of condor-chick viewing on Condor Cam begins! The chick is getting bigger, weighing between 17 and 42 ounces (500 and 1,200 grams) and can often be seen poking its head out from under a parent’s wing. The parents spend less time sitting on the chick, weather permitting, leaving it unattended for longer periods of time, possibly 30 minutes or so. Never fear! The parents are nearby, often just out of the camera’s view, approximately 6 to 8 feet (1.8 to 2.4 meters) away. It is usually easier to observe feeding behavior at this age. The parents stand a little to the side of the chick now, so you may catch a glimpse of food actually being transferred from parent to chick. The chick’s crop may be visible when it’s full (the crop is a bulge in the esophagus where food is stored). It is between the size of a golf ball and a tennis ball and is a bald patch of skin. You may witness a very common behavior called “wing-begging.” This is when the chick is begging for food, flapping one or both of its stubby little wings and bobbing its head excitedly. This behavior can persist until after the chick fledges, or leaves its nest, at four to five months.

The chick hatched wearing a fluffy coat of white down feathers. At this stage, the chick’s white down is starting to transition to gray. Sometimes this can make the chick look dirty or scruffy, but it is still as healthy as it ever has been. Both chick and parents are frequently grooming the feathers to make sure they are working the way they should be. These dark feathers also help the chick blend in with the substrate and the nest cave walls, since the parents are not covering the chick as much as they were.

Some viewers have noted that the chick looks like it has scabs on its head/neck or has wounds on its body, matting its down feathers. This is actually regurgitated food stuck to its face or body. Feeding can be quite exciting for the chick, and some food doesn’t always end up in its mouth! The chick obviously can’t take a bath at this age, so the food dries up, gets crusty, and flakes off, a major benefit of having a bald head! If you’ve seen the adult condors eat at Condor Ridge at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park or Elephant Odyssey at the San Diego Zoo, you can attest to the condors’ ability to keep clean after a messy meal. Also, the presence of flies in the nest is nothing to worry about. Keep in mind that condors are carnivores, feed their chicks via regurgitation, and nest in cavities (caves, crevices, etc.) that are often sheltered from the wind. All of these components add up to a very comfortable environment for flies as well as condors. Never fear: condors have excellent immune systems and are only mildly annoyed by the flies!

At 3 weeks of age and 2.6 to 3.3 pounds (1.2 to 1.5 kilograms), the condor chick can start to thermo-regulate, or control its own body temperature. This is when the parents start leaving the chick on its own during the day. Depending on the ambient temperature, the chick may be seen shivering or panting in an effort to warm or cool itself. Also, on warm days, the chick may inflate the air sacs in its chin and neck to cool down. Air sac inflation can also occur after a particularly filling meal. Often, the parents may spend time in the nest with the chick, but they may not necessarily sit on the chick.

Here's a different chick being cleaned by a condor puppet.

The chick is more mobile, scooting around the nest on its haunches, or tarsal joints. We refer to this as a “tarsal crawl.” It’s not quite standing up on its feet, but it can move about, following the parents and investigating different parts of the nest. You may see the chick start to gather items (feathers, scraps of old food) from around the nest and move them to one corner. The chick likes to sit or sleep on this pile and play with the different items. These feathers and old food scraps are often brought to the nest by the parents. Birds replace their feathers through a process called molting, kind of like when mammals shed their hair/fur. We don’t know if the parents are bringing these items to the nest specifically for the chick or if it’s just happenstance, but the chick loves to investigate and play with them!

As the parents start leaving the chick alone for longer periods of time, it will be easier to watch the chick when it sleeps. Just like all growing youngsters, condor chicks sleep A LOT. With longer legs and gawky bodies, they are often sprawled out, wings askew, in odd positions when they sleep. Do not worry! The chick is perfectly fine.

Ron Webb is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

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1

Condor Chick Named!

By
Matt Steele
– April 4, 2012Posted in: Animals and Plants, Birds, California Condors, Conservation

Six-year-old condor lover Hend with her condor plush, Sophie

We were blown away by the amount of thoughtful name submissions we got on Facebook and Twitter for the California condor chick growing before our eyes on Condor Cam. We were also surprised by the outpouring of support we got for our conservation efforts. Some participants even shared touching stories about condors and why it’s so important to save them from extinction. One such story was from the person who suggested the winning name, Emma Apple.

When Emma posted her name suggestion, Saticoy, she mentioned that her six-year-old daughter, Hend, is a huge condor lover. “She teaches everyone she meets about their plight,” Emma wrote, “She wants to be a ‘Condor Rescuer’ when she grows up.”

It’s not every day that we hear of a six-year-old with such an infatuation for an animal that isn’t typically thought of as cute and cuddly, so we had to know more. “People are always surprised at this little girl’s passion for these (oft perceived as) ugly [birds],” Emma wrote. “Ever since learning of their plight in a documentary about the Grand Canyon a couple of years ago, she’s just been completely enamored by them. I think she’s the coolest. How many pink-loving, 6-year-old condor fanatics are there?”

We agree. Hend is the coolest. When asked why she thinks it’s important to save animals from extinction, Hend replied “Because there would be no more and it was too late for dinosaurs and my brother loves dinosaurs. If there was an important species that’s endangered and they were extinct, we wouldn’t get the things that they give us.” Well said.When Emma told Hend that her name suggestion was the winner, Hend apparently shouted “This is one more step to being a Condor Rescuer!” and continued to release her plush condor named Sophie (after Sophie Osborn, who wrote a book about condors) “back into the wild” all evening. We were told that her condor plush has died of lead poisoning, been nursed back to health and been released back into the wild many times, so the one that comes as a prize will be in good hands.

Hend’s love for saving these beautiful birds gives us hope for the future. If every kid her age shared just a fraction of her passion, we would be in good hands. Thanks to everyone for posting name suggestions and voting for our condor chick’s name. We’re lucky to have such engaged supporters. Stay tuned to Condor Cam to watch little Saticoy grow up!

Matt Steele is the social media planner for San Diego Zoo Global. Read his previous post, Rhino Poaching Increases at Alarming Rate in 2011.

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2

Chick Watching: Hatch to 1 Week

By
Ron Webb
– April 3, 2012Posted in: Animals and Plants, Birds, California Condors, Conservation, Conservation at the Zoo

This California condor chick is being fed by a hand puppet. The chick you see on Condor Cam is fed by its parents.

Condor Cam at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park provides an opportunity to watch the inner workings of a condor nest, an experience usually limited to keepers and field biologists. We hope you are enjoying it as much as we are! Many viewers have expressed some concerns while watching the little California condor chick hatch and grow. Thank you so much for caring! The chick’s development and health are progressing perfectly. Parents Sisquoc and Shatash are doing an excellent job! Being able to determine if all is well in a nest can often be difficult, especially if you don’t have anything to which you can compare. I’d like to provide some developmental and behavioral guidelines that we consider to be normal for a healthy condor family.

The chick hatched on March 10, 2012, weighing around 190 grams (6.7 ounces). The hatching process can be grueling, so afterward the chick usually rests a lot and is brooded, or sat on, by the parents. We often call this “sitting tight,” as the parents are providing protection and warmth, especially while the newly hatched chick is drying off. With the chick being weak and wobbly, it often is hard to feed, but that is okay. The chick is getting nutrients from the yolk sac that it absorbed into its belly just before hatching. After about a day, the chick can hold its head steady, and the parents start providing food. They eat food that we offer out in the flight pen and then bring it to the chick in their crop (a bulge in their esophagus where they can store up to 3 pounds or 1.3 kilograms of food). The food is regurgitated for the chick, providing a warm and nutritious meal. Mmm! The diet we provide varies, depending on the day, but it can include rabbits, rats, trout, beef spleen, and ground meat. While the chick is very young, it is often difficult to witness a feeding, since the parent is standing directly above the chick, blocking the camera’s view. If you see a parent slightly bobbing its head while standing over the chick, feeding is occurring. Feeding sessions are fairly short for small chicks, since their crops are only about the size of a lima bean.

Both California condor parents provide care for the chick. This drive is very strong, and it’s not uncommon to see the parents vying for time with the chick, especially immediately after hatching. This happens in the form of leaning into each other, pushing one’s way onto the chick, scooping the chick from one parent to the other, or nipping at neck skin or tugging at feathers to get the other parent to move. Usually, one parent acts more dominantly and controls the interactions a little more than the other parent. This time, mother Shatash took this dominant role, despite her being much smaller than Sisquoc. Other years, we’ve seen Sisquoc take this role. We interpret this periodic shift in dominance, and the other bird’s acceptance of this shift, as a very good trait in a condor pair. As time passes after hatch, they settle into a routine, and the nest exchanges become much calmer.

One viewer concern was the number of times that the chick was stepped on by the parents. In many species, ranging from hummingbirds to elephants, babies get slightly squished by the parents. Usually, it’s just a minor misstep, and the baby lets the parent know with a brief vocalization. Condors are no different or no more fragile. They are very hearty little chicks! As young as four days of age, we have seen chicks sifting through the sand in the nest, picking up items on their own. We’ve even seen chicks swallowing small pieces of their eggshell for dietary calcium.

At the end of the condor chick’s first week of life it weighs around 300 grams (10.5 ounces). It is getting much stronger but is not venturing around the nest very much yet. Coordination is improving, and we can witness social interactions with the parents: nibbling, preening, and nuzzling. Every once in a while, you may see the chick quivering, almost like it has the hiccups. It is actually vocalizing. Condors don’t have a true voice box, or “syrinx,” like other birds, but they can make crude, primitive vocalizations. Adults may grunt, wheeze, or hiss. Chicks can make a high-pitched, scraping squawk, usually when begging or out from under the parents for too long.

The next few weeks of development are very exciting, not just for the condor family, but for any of us watching on the Condor Cam. Stay tuned!

Ron Webb is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Read his previous post, Condors: Big Day Approaching.

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1

Are Wild Areas a Luxury?

By
Russ Van Horn
– March 27, 2012Posted in: Animals and Plants, Bears, Birds, Conservation, Projects in the Field, Uncategorized

A critically endangered white-winged guan in Peru's northwest

There was some disturbing news from northwest Peru, near where we’ve been working in the dry forest on Andean (spectacled) bear conservation research in collaboration with the Spectacled Bear Conservation Society: some local hunters had poached white-winged guans within a private, protected area. The white-winged guan, a bird somewhat similar to a wild turkey, was thought to be extinct until rediscovered by scientists in 1977. Efforts to breed it in captivity and reintroduce it to the wild have been ongoing for the last few decades, but although the population has increased, it is thought there are less than 300 adult white-winged guans in the wild. The species is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world’s largest global environmental network.

It would be easy to simply condemn poaching of white-winged guans as a shortsighted, illegal act, but this wouldn’t address the question of why the guans were hunted. One of the long-standing threats to guans has been hunting, and now poaching, for their meat. Like turkeys in North America, guans are large birds that taste good to humans. I wonder, then, whether the guans were killed for food. If so, this should lead us to consider a contributing factor in poaching: poverty and the lack of options that go along with it.

A camera-trap photo shows several white-lipped pecarries in the humid transitional forest of Cusco, Peru.

Every year there are many instances around the world (including North America) of wildlife poaching for trophies, for the commercial trade in their body parts, and for the commercial trade in wildlife as bushmeat. But there are also many instances of poaching for consumption by local residents living next to protected areas. This type of poaching illustrates the need to engage local residents in conservation actions and the need to work toward the sustainable development of local economies. If local people are struggling to make ends meet, and they don’t see benefits from conservation, don’t you think they might consider it a luxury to set aside wild areas and wild animals for conservation?

A camera trap photo shows a collared peccary in the humid transitional forest of Cusco.

I’m not sure, but I suspect that past over-hunting of peccaries in the dry forest might explain why they’re rarely detected by our camera traps. Two species of peccaries, the white-lipped peccary and the collared peccary, have been frequently photographed by camera traps in humid forests of Cusco at the same elevation as the dry forest of Lambayeque, but it’s rare for camera traps in the dry forest to take photos of peccaries. Perhaps the dry forest is not good habitat for peccaries, but given that collared peccaries range across a wide variety of habitats, including other dry forests, I wonder whether their scarcity at our study site reflects past predation by hungry humans.

It’s nothing new to say that most conservation challenges arise from human actions, but it seems clear that we can’t address those conservation challenges without also considering the challenges facing the humans who live where we work. I don’t know much about how to manage the human component of conservation, so I’m glad that Samantha Young (see post Scientific Concepts for Non-scientists) and the rest of our Conservation Education Division are starting to work with us in the dry forest. We can use all the expert assistance we can get!

Russ Van Horn is a scientist in the Applied Animal Ecology Division of the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research. Read his previous post, The Bear Necessities.

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