October can be a busy month at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s Condor Breeding Facility. This is the time of the year when we start to prepare for the next breeding season: clean nests, conduct routine health exams, and provide maintenance to flight pens that were previously off-limits to keepers because of the presence of our young chicks slated for release to the wild. But before we can start anything, we need to move the recently fledged chicks to their new home—our socialization pen.
Our remote socialization pen is approximately one mile from the main part of the Safari Park. On September 3, we moved this year’s Condor Cam chick, Kitwon, there to be isolated from any human activity and socialized with other fledglings her age. In the wild, condor chicks stay with or around their parents for up to 18 months. We don’t let them stay that long here at the Park. If we did, the next breeding season would probably be compromised; the presence of the fledgling may prevent the parents from breeding the next year, or the parents may turn aggressive to the chick if they try to nest again.
Before her move, we affixed a wing tag to Kitwon’s left wing for identification purposes. She is now wearing wing tag Blue 13. She is sharing this large pen with three other condors:
Ihiy (EE-hee): Female, 7 years old, wearing no wing tags.
Unu (OO-noo): Female, 6 months old, wearing tag Red 6 (right wing).
Spey (SPAY-ee): Female, 6 months old, wearing tag Yellow 15 (left wing).
Soon, a fourth, younger chick will be joining the group; she has yet to fledge.
California condors that are expected to be released to the wild are called “release candidates.” We raise all of our condor chicks as if they are release candidates until we hear otherwise from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, who oversees the California Condor Recovery Program. Release candidates are isolated from humans. We offer their food through a chute in the wall. The pools are drained and rinsed from the outside of the pen. We don’t pick up any of their old food. The only time the birds see us is during a medical procedure: affixing wing tags, pre-shipment examinations, or West Nile Virus inoculations. These generally are not enjoyable experiences for the young condors, and that is what we want them to learn from us before they are shipped to the wild. We don’t want them to associate humans with anything beneficial. We are hoping 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.
One of Kitwon’s new penmates has a very important role. Ihiy, the adult, is acting as the young birds’ new “mentor.” The mentor’s job is to facilitate the socialization of the fledglings. Condors are very social and, like us, need to learn the rules of how to interact in a group. The parent condors started this process when the chicks hatched, and continued it as the youngsters eventually fledged. Now that they are no longer living with their parents, the chicks’ “education” will be furthered by Ihiy. She will be the dominant bird in the pen, often displacing the fledglings from perches or roost sites or pushing them from the food until she has eaten first. The dominant birds at a site are usually the biggest ones, and often the most experienced. The young condors need to learn how to interact with these dominant and pushy birds in order to be successful in the wild.
The socialization pen is very large with lots of space to fly around and exercise wings. There are several large oak snags on which to perch or roost. Also, there are two pools from which to drink or bathe. There are several ground level perches and boulders to hop around on, as well. It is interesting to see the social development of each bird. They can choose to perch next to whichever bird they wish, so they really get to know each other well. We have learned that young condors that aren’t well-socialized tend not to be successful once they are released to the wild.
So far, Kitwon is integrating well into the group. She flies very well in the pen and interacts appropriately with her new penmates. Her parents, Sisquoc and Shatash, have done a great job preparing her for the big, wide world! As time passes, we should see the whole group settling in, perching, and feeding together. Feel free to post any comments or questions, and we’ll try to get them answered as soon as we can. Enjoy!
Ron Webb is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Read his previous story, Kitwon Has Left the Nest!
Great news Ron time flys it doesn’t seem that long since we had a small chick ,sad that some one would shot a condor these are beautiful birds and need to be in the wild thank you Ron and Staff for all you do.
Kitwon has really grown into quite a striking young bird. I am glad to see that she is settling in nicely with the other condors. I appreciated that you list the other birds with their tags and names so that we can identify them also. Keep up the great work. Does anyone know how long condors live in the wild? It hasn’t been that long in captivity but look at the fantastic results so far. How long can Kitwon’s parents continue to breed? Or are you on a learning curve and discovering new things as the years go by? I will sharing this with the folks at Starr Ranch. Hope they will be inspired to visit.
Condor Team responds: We believe that condors in the wild probably live at least 30-40 years on average, and likely at least into their 60s in zoos. We know that zoo animals tend to live longer due to better diets and less stress. Though we don’t have a long history yet of California condors in zoos, we do know that their close relative, the Andean condor (that have lived in zoos much further back in history) have lived over 60 years. We feel California condors likely will be the same.
We don’t really know yet at what age condors are no longer productive, but as the years go by, it seems they can go quite a while! Topa Topa, a male founder CA condor that resides at the Los Angeles Zoo, is known to be 51 years and is still producing. AC-5, another male founder (of unknown hatch date) may have been around in the 1960s. He fathered his last chick in 2011; even though at that time, he had congenital heart disease, diagnosed a few years earlier. He died in 2014. So, that’s the long-winded answer! We are still learning, as we’ve only been intensely working with these long-lived birds for the last 36 years. We don’t know how long the egg-laying life of the females is yet. With Kitwon’s parents being 36 (male) and 28 (female), it looks like they still have some good reproductive years left.
Thanks for the update, Ron. For several days I wasn’t able to get the Condor Cam. Was there an angle that gave a view of the nest as Kitwon fledged?
I am disturbed by the radio news statement that a California condor has been shot and killed. Not sure where it took place. Do you have any information that would indicate where and what can be done to capture the shooter and to protect the condors?
From the Condor Team: Kitwon was moved fairly soon after fledge, so there was no lengthy time frame to view anything from the camera. But the good news is she can now be seen in her new home with her fellow release candidates and mentor.
Regarding the condor that was shot: Little information has been made available at this point, and we don’t expect much more right now as there is a Federal investigation going on. We are sure they are doing a thorough job and using all the latest forensic technologies and investigating techniques available to find the shooter. One can hope that an arrest will be made and the person punished to the fullest extent of the law.